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Thanks for your patience, hope you enjoy this next chapter and if you do let me know with a review just so I can get feedback, etc.


Chapter Three: A Speedy Exit

Unfortunately pursued without a shred of pause, the group tear through the swamps and dense forests surrounding the small Imperial base, speeders kicking up refuse and plant life as they blaze a path straight through the uninhabited wasteland.

Speeder's clearing the way through powerful engines, Shay wonders whether the trails they are making now might be put to use in a few years time. They have certainly made a way through the dense humidity which could be traversable without speeders.

Blaster fire from the Imperial pursuers echo through the swamps, the heavy guns from the front of the Imperial-issue speeders thundering as they skim past helmets and hair alike.

Almost witnessing Devar meet her maker as one bolt slashes open a small cut on her now-exposed shoulder, perforating yet another hole in the worn jacket she is wearing, he is spurred ever forwards and twists on the speed controls.

Doubting she will be too sad over the loss of material, Shay's hands attempt to guide him to safety as a tree collapses from his right, it's trunk with a hole drilled viciously through the middle.

"Thought you said they wouldn't bother to chase us through the swamp?" Devar yells over the explosions and hissing of blaster bolts.

"That was before they did," the young Imperial responds, her hand waving a greeting to Shay as there's eyes match from beneath their helmets.

Escaping from the Imperial holding facility was not difficult compared to the mayhem and madness hot on their boots, so perhaps Shay was too naive to believe it would go as smoothly as they believed it would. At least he now knows the Imperial was being honest when she wanted to help them escape, because no-one would go through this effort just to stab them in the back now.

Even the Emperor's white-coated dogs aren't that tenacious.

"Is this the part where we split up?" Devar screams, seemingly directed more to the Mandalorian than their other partner-in-escape.

Believe it or not, but although Mandalorians are expert warriors, not many have extensive experience in escaping prison on speeders through a stinking swamp. So, he is not quite sure why the alien is asking for his opinion on the matter, since she is assumedly the veteran criminal.

Splitting up may sound good, but the Mandalorian wants to make sure the two don't sell him out the moment they split up. It's better to stay together and go down together in this situation, considering splitting up would only make their numbers disadvantage worse.

"This is the part we cut off our tail," the Mandalorian responds, patting his speeder on the side and motioning for Devar to move closer to him. "How much do you weigh?"

"Don't think you should be asking a woman th-"

The Devaronian is cut short as the heavily armoured man leaps a few feet more than anyone of his size should be capable of and lands on the aliens speeder, immediately dropping and straddling the speeder behind her.

"Don't want to question your sanity, but why did you just do that?" the criminal asks as she probably regathers her thoughts.

Pointing a thumb at his now slowing speeder bike, his finger hovers over a button on his left bracer before he slams down on it. The speeder he had been riding a moment ago bursts into flames in a spectacular explosion, launching boiling balls of metal back into two of the chasing Imperials, causing two secondary explosions as their bodies rocket into the sky.

Waving goodbye to his mechanical friend, the Mandalorian turns to his co-rider and motions for her to keep her sharp eyes on the path ahead.

"Niceee," their young Imperial glides over to them on her own speeder, fist bumping the air. "Got any more of those?"

"Couldn't afford any more," the Mandalorian shrugs, "business has been slow lately."

"That leaves five more, so do you have any more crazy schemes brewing under the helmet? I think they are getting a bit too bold," Devar interrupts the conversation.

Craning his neck around carefully so as to not lose his balance, the Mandalorian eyes their pursuers as they accelerate even more, trying to close the gap as they enter a more sparsely populated section of this endless swamp. Becoming far more safe to speed up whilst there's not as many obstacles around, it seems as though the Imperials are making their move.

To be precise, one of them is currently shouting orders to move in closer.

Clearly a veteran or lower-ranking officer of some kind, the Imperial's recently shined armour is splattered with greenery and foul smelling swamp juice. His orange pauldron has been stained a sickly colour and his speeder has been lain with various metal eggs of varying size, presumably shrapnel from Shay's exploding bike.

Engine sizzling and the faint sight of smoke beginning to sneak it's way from under the speeder's skin, Shay estimates the Sergeant doesn't have a long time left before the speeder gives out. The man seemingly wishes to end the chase before that happens as his now free left hand removes itself from the handle and launches a potshot at the group from his blaster.

"Keep us going a little while longer," Shay says to Devar whilst his hand reaches and grabs his own blaster. "Keep them straining to get us kid."

"Don't need much motivation to do that," the Imperial deserter places her own speeder under stress as it whines from its continual acceleration.

Don't give out on us now, the Mandalorian pleads with the speeders.

"It can't take much more of this!" Devar shouts to her backrider, "we have to turn around and make a stand!"

"Keep her going!" Shay yells back, attempting to brace his blaster against his forearm to stabilise his shots.

Being as difficult as it may seem, the Mandalorian infuriatingly misses all his shots, the screaming blaster bolts thumping uselessly into both the ground, the sky, and everything in between apart from where they are meant to go.

Unable to tell her to go slower, the Mandalorian bears through the uncomfortable situation, hoping instead to buy whatever time he can before the Imperial's give up when their NCO's bike gives out.

Hoping seeing their Sergeant stop will force them to abandon their intrepid pursuit, Shay almost takes out one of the Imperials but the armoured foe ducks at the last possible moment, escaping an immediate end to his drive in the countryside.

Suddenly, metal clangs within his helmet and a high-pitched ringing envelopes his senses without mercy. He wrestles with himself in order to focus, pushing down the confused sections of his ears and brain and throwing instinct on top.

Someone actually managed to bounce a shot off his helmet and to no surprise, the Imperial Sergeant lowers his blaster from where it had just fired and uses the one of few fingers free from the trigger to grab back onto his handle.

"You good back there?" Devar asks, not a shred of concern showing in her voice.

After all, losing the heavy load currently straddling the back of her speeder would probably do her a world of good in speeding up her exit. Shay doesn't blame her for half-hoping he'd slump off with a warriors death so she could slip off into the distance.

"Unfortunately," he fires back a one word reply, not wanting to waste any spare attention he has on turning back towards her.

Danger creeps forwards as the Sergeant comes ever closer, this time changing target and slithering behind their deserter accomplice. Either not paying attention or not thinking the Sergeant would be able to catch up with a quick burst of acceleration, the girl doesn't notice as the Sergeant's blaster hand takes aim at the back of her head.

Unlike Shay, he doubts the Imperial-issue helmet could withstand any sort of blaster fire above the force of a gust of wind and so takes action before the Imperial could cut her escape short at the end of the road.

Taking aim with his own blaster, he throws away the doubts caused by his more recent misses, still trying to use his forearm to give himself a semi-stable platform. If he's going to connect with any shot, this is perhaps the one he'd most like to hit.

Arm still swaying around in the air even with his full focus placed into keeping it level and still, the Mandalorian curses as he places his left arm back down and instead lines up his blaster with his eye.

"By the guidance of Mandalore… don't miss."

Fortunately for Shay, the Sergeant had also taken his time to aim up and get the best shot possible, giving the Mandalorian enough time to pull the trigger and watch as his shot clattered into the outstretched blaster currently being pointed towards the young Imperial.

His weapon seized from his grip by the force of the blaster, the Sergeant watches helplessly as his blaster is thrown into the swamps and consumed by the earth.

Given time enough to stare directly at Shay, the Imperial's speeder spits and hisses as it's engine collapses from exhaustion and damage, the officer being overtaken by his comrades.

Gratefully spectating as the soldiers quickly give up the chase and fall back to their leader, the Mandalorian watches out of the corner of his eye as the Imperial shows some vulgar gestures towards her former comrades with a ferocity which would put many Mandalorians to shame.

"Damn that was fun," Devar wheezes, perhaps keeping her breath in all this time in nervousness.

Finally being able to lower his voice as the only sound now reverberating around the swamp is the dull groaning of their own speeders, the Mandalorian slumps his shoulders slightly and internally sighs in relief.

Not allowing them to see his moment of anxiousness roll away, he cracks the tension from his shoulder, blowing into his helmet as he only now notices his air conditioner has failed to do it's only job again.

"We could all be dead if things had gone a little differently. Mandalore was on our side today," Shay recounts the fully unfolded events inside his brain, careful not to get too comfy with their reprieve.

"Would that be so bad Mandalorian?" Devar snorts to herself, "Our friend here would be free of her duties, I'd be free of this miserable world and you'd be free of the rancor making a nest up your rear-end."

This earns a careful chuckle from the girl, who watches the Mandalorian for any reprisal.

All things considered, he estimates they have earned a small laugh at his expense. However, his honour demands he at least responds to the challenge in equal.

"I would ask him to come say hello but the smell of that jacket scares him," he jests back, to which the alien discreetly checks her clothing just in case the Mandalorian isn't joking.

"In any case, go down this path here and come to a stop. We need to get our next step figured out," the Mandalorian adds after a brief silence, to which the alien twitches and brings the speeder to a calm pace before grinding to a halt.

Not sounding good, the Mandalorian grimaces as the screeching metal flicks sparks as it scrapes across the ground, expending whatever integrity it had left to not blow up in their faces. Spent and harmed beyond repair, the speeder finally halts in motion and allows the two to carefully step off with a quiet groan of despair.

"Couldn't have done it without ya," Devar carefully taps the top of the speeder before guiding it slowly to an underbrush it can hide in. "He's reached his expiry date and I doubt we have a warranty for this."

"Wandering around in these swamps isn't a good idea," their Imperial friend rides her own speeder - in considerably better shape than theirs - towards them before leaping off without any grace whatsoever, arms flung out to desperately cling to her feet.

"Just be grateful you have the brain to think it's a bad idea. That guy almost had you in the back of the head before the Mando stepped in," the female criminal responds as she slaps the Mando on his armoured shoulder, her hand rebounding straight off it with a thud.

Grimacing, the woman turns to their companion and yanks off her Imperial helmet without asking for permission, dropping it into the dirt and kicking it a few metres away with surprising power.

Younger than he expected, the girl doesn't protest the sudden unveiling and instead shrugs.

"What was that for?" she asks.

"Like to see the face of my friends so I can haunt them when they stab me in the back."


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