Sora ran towards her ship with all her strength. It wasn't often that anyone, much less a male, left Sora Jade speechless. Kenobi had managed to do it though! She still didn't know why his words had affected her so much…but she knew that she had to get off this planet now, before she did something that she would regret.
Turning the corner into the hanger bay where her ship was, she started sprinting towards the Falcon. "Shavit!" Sora whispered as she felt the blaster marks in the Falcon's hull. Because of her excellent security system, the bounty hunters had not been able to get inside, but Sora knew that they wouldn't give up that easily. They were really trying to find her. Instinctively her hand dropped to her blaster. She could tell they were watching her. Her eyes flickered to the shadows in the lower level hanging bay. Cursing herself for being to foolish, she frantically punched in her acceptance codes to the Falcon and quickly ran into the ship. Slamming the door closed she headed to the cockpit and started the preflight procedures. She had to get away. She just hoped that somehow the Falcon would be able to get to a different planet. Coruscant was not the place for her.
A few shots were fired on the outside of her hull. Not this time…she punched the engines on and heard the worst sound in the world, the engines dying. Cursing in several languages, she flew out of the chair and stormed to the back of the ship. Now would be the time when a copilot would be useful, she thought as she tore an access panel off, rummaging around for anything that she could fix.
Unfortunately, she now saw that her shields were down to 10%, which wouldn't get her as far as Coruscant's moon. She slammed her hand down on the floor on sunk to the ground, trying to figure out what she could do. The hand that was propping her up slipped in shock as she heard the hatch open and several footsteps going up the ramp to her ship. What had gone wrong! Those security codes should have kept everything out.
She pulled out her blaster and ducked into the shadows of the holo-game table, keeping hidden from view. Orders were barked by a gruff voice and she heard footsteps come towards her and towards the cockpit. Quietly she pulled out another power pack from her belt and replaced her old one. No body walks on my ship without my permission.
She had the first two down before the third one could blink. She shot him directly after that. Louder footsteps came towards her and she ducked into one of the personal quarters on the falcon, staying hidden from view as one of the men checked the vital signs on the three that were dead.
"JADE!" he yelled. Before he said another word, Sora shot the rest of the man's companions and came out with her blaster pointed straight at his heart. The stupid fool hadn't even raised his blaster in defense.
"Drop it," she snarled at him. His facial expression didn't change but all the blood drained from his face. Obviously not a sabacc player are you…He dropped the blaster on the floor and raised his hands up a little bit.
"Very good," she said coldly, "Now what do you want with me?"
"I don't want anything with you Jade, but someone who has a lot of money does."
"Need I say that I will shoot you if you do not tell me who it is?"
"Well...see…" his face finally started to change and she noticed him tense up before he gave his response. "I don't know who it was…"
Frustrated Sora reached towards him and jammed the blaster into his neck, her firm grip around his head. He broke. "I really don't know! We got out orders from Terrik Solo! He was doing the job for someone!"
"Solo? He got out of the game years ago," she pressed the gun harder into his neck. There was no way Solo was back.
"Dead or alive?" she asked.
"Larger bounty for alive, but it's still a good price if you're dead." Sora stepped on his blaster lying on the ground and pulled away from him, her blaster still set firmly between his eyes.
"You get out of here. Tell them what happened here. Tell them that the same thing will happen again if any more of you wimps try and pull this stunt again." He stood still for a moment, as if trying to decide whether or not she was going to shoot him. Taking one last look at his unreachable blaster under her foot, he sprinted out of the ship and did not look back.
Breathing heavily, Sora lowered her blaster and put it back into it's holster. She knew that no matter how many threats she gave, or how many guys she killed, there was only going to be one safe place for her until she could get her ship fixed. A place that she really didn't want to go to…
"Terrik?" Jalia Solo called into the sitting room of their small apartment, a wailing Han in her arms. "Terrik get the com!" Or do something…Jalia growled. He had been home almost two whole hours and all he did was sit in front of that darn holovision. She steadied Han on her hip and shoved a pacifier into his mouth, quieting his cries. Throwing a disgusted look towards Terrik's drunken form on the couch, she pushed the "receive" button on the com station. But she was too late. The message machine was already recording. And what she heard brought tears to her eyes.
"Hey boss, you never told us about some superwoman who could fly and shoot better than she can walk! The deal is off. Six of my men are already dead and Jade says to tell you that if you try again, she'll kill more. Get someone else for Shrike's dirty work-"
Jalia looked up into her husband's eyes as he cut off the message from her hearing. She felt the tears run down her face as she realized what he had been doing again.
"I don't believe it Terrik! You're working for Shrike again!" Her voice screech through the house and Terrik covered his ears.
"It wasn't my idea Jalia! Believe me!" He pleaded.
"Believe you? When you're this drunk!?" She walked into Han's room and sat him down under a hanging toy. Standing back up she walked to the kitchen. Terrik was following her, trying to get her to listen.
"Jalia I promise that this is the last one! Shrike wants Jade. I want Jade! Who better to actually catch that girl than the two men who hate her the most!"
"You don't know the first thing about that girl and she's going to put you back in that bacta tank for more than 3 months this time!"
"It's not going to be like that again...I'm hiring, not actually going out to get her."
"Is this what you've been doing all these months? Going after Jade?" She stopped chopping up some protates and looked him square in the eyes.
"Shrikes willing to pay a lot for that girl…"
"Are you?" Jalia asked seriously.
"What do you mean?" Terrik looked her in the eyes with a confused expression.
"You remember what I told you 2 years ago Terrik. I'll keep to that promise. You go through with this deal…and I'll leave."
Terrik sat awestruck for a moment as he digested her words. "Where would you go? How would you survive?"
"Obi-Wan and the Jedi would help me-"
"Ah yes…perfect Obi-Wan. Give it a break Jalia. He's not going to do anything for you!" he sneered in her face.
"Shut up!" She cried, slamming her fist into the countertop. "He's been more of a comfort to me than you have! And you've got no right to talk when you're so drunk!" She looked back in his face and it was contort with anger.
"Is that so?" flecks of spit flew into her eyes but she didn't flinch away. "Well then hear me now because I'm as sober as I'm gonna get…Get out."
Jalia held strong as she turned away, went and packed a few things, and walked out the door, little Han in her arms and a pack strung about her back.