Cantonica was an arid land on the northern edge of the Untamed Regions that for several centuries before the Great War was home to only to smugglers, pirates, and lowlifes. Under the Empire, everything changed seemingly overnight. The land came under the control of a corporate fiefdom and transformed into a lavish paradise for the obscenely wealthy.
The coastal capital of Canto Bight with its glistering stone and sprawling clifftop casino earned an infamous reputation for the ridiculous opulence both it and its visitors displayed. Parties that lasted for weeks at a time with dishes of food that each cost more than the average person made in a year were common. All this stood in stark contrast to the abject poverty of those that lived in the slums outside the high city walls, where food and clean drinking water was valuable enough to kill for.
Under the midday sun, a small boat emerged from a Hyperion gate into the warm waters of the Bay of Cantonica. In the distance, Canto Bight glimmered under the hot desert sun.
"Okay," Rose said as she adjusted the sail. "We get in, we find this codebreaker, we get out."
Finn pointed the boat's bow towards the bone white sand of the beach. "You know this place? Canto Bight?"
"From stories. It's a terrible place filled with the worst people in the world." Her nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Great."
Immaculately dressed partygoers aboard a pearlescent white yacht eyed the sailboat suspiciously while they sipped their sparkling wine. Nothing good could ever come from something so small and cheap.
While Finn and Rose navigated the white cobblestone streets of Canto Bight, the police had taken quite the interest in their boat. As several documented the vessel, another took eyewitness testimony from an Abednedo.
"I told those two, I said, 'this is a public beach, you can't land that boat here.' But they just lit off towards the casino."
Situated high on the cliffs overlooking the city and the bay beyond, the Crescent Royale Casino hosted all manner of amenities including a lavish hotel, twenty-two restaurants, and a multilevel souq that put Coruscant's to shame. In addition to this, the upper level of the central rotunda housed the plutocratic government's legislature.
Upon entering, Finn's and Rose's senses were overwhelmed by everything the casino had to offer. Wisps of sweet and somewhat spicy incense drifted around and mingled with the aromas of hors d'oeuvres carried by straight backed waitstaff. Peppy jizz music piped out of strategically placed sound tubes and mixed with the clinking of gambling chips and cheers of those winning them. People from countless races and cultures gathered around card, dice and roulette tables to test their luck.
Finn laughed in amazement and bit into the snail mousse on gold dusted bread he had received from a rather confused waiter. "Aw, yes! This place is great!"
"Okay," Rose sighed. "Maz said this Master Codebreaker would have a red plom bloom on his lapel. Let's just find him and get out of here."
Bibi-Eit chirped in agreement.
Nearby, a gambler slammed his fists onto the table as the croupier raked his chips away. Finn gawked at just how much money the chips were worth before Rose pulled him away by his arm.
At the time, slot machines were a fascinating new trend in gambling. The black and gold spheroid ones of Canto Bight housed the finest clockwork internals and produced chimes designed to appeal to the psychology of the players. Their popularity also meant that finding an open one was rather difficult.
This was the issue that greeted one diminutive and inebriated gambler. To his great delight, however, while staggering down the rows of machines, he came across a white and orange one that seemed to be purposely sized for him. It didn't matter that this slot machine made different sounds than the others when he inserted chips, he was just happy to play.
Bibi-Eit was far less amused at the drunken gambler gracelessly shoving the tokens into the slots on his chassis. His mood worsened when the gambler spilled his drink over him and belched loudly.
After searching for some time, Rose and Finn met back up near the main bar. Finn shook his head. "I've covered that half of the casino. Zero red plom blooms."
"I've had the same luck."
"Where is this guy?"
The two of them ducked as the ground suddenly started shaking. Bottles of alcohol worth more than all the money either of them had ever seen rattled behind the bar. Nobody around them seemed to be at all concerned by any of this though.
Rose popped her head up with an excited gasp. "Was that what I think it was?" She started towards the stairs to the second floor. "Come on."
Rose and Finn stepped out onto a sweeping balcony that overlooked a vast hippodrome on the flats behind the casino. Thousands of people packed the stands, their cheers nearly drowning out the race announcer's voice coming over a broadcast crystal.
Finn beheld the animals and the jockeys racing around the track with curiosity. The creatures' shoulders were easily one and a half times as high as the jockeys were tall and they ran faster than any horse he had ever seen. "What are those things?"
"Fathiers," Rose answered with wonder. "I've never seen a real one."
Fathiers are herbivorous canids often used as mounts by wealthy hunters. Their powerful leg muscles let them reach staggering speeds and their large ears allow them to regulate their body heat. From where they originate is a mystery but legends tell that their homeland considered them sacred and that all the fathiers across the world are descended from a small stolen herd.
Rose's smile faded and her hand went to her medallion. "My sister and I always wanted to watch a race. It's not as magical as I thought it would be..."
"Look, this whole place is beautiful. I mean, come on. Why do you hate it so much?"
Rose took a deep breath. "Look closer."
Finn took hold of the nearby mounted binoculars and focused on the race.
"My sister and I grew up in a poor bauxite mining colony. The First Order stripped the land of every scrap of ore to finance their military."
Finn listened to Rose's words as the binoculars revealed the rot below the surface. Each fathier bore crisscrossing scars and the jockeys' spurs were enchanted to release shocks on contact. The binoculars trailed over a handler striking a stabled fathier with a whip. A stableboy of at most twelve years old dropped a bucket close by and ended up on the receiving end of the whip as well.
"When the mines ran dry, they shelled us to test their weapons... They took everything we had."
Finn took his eyes away from the binoculars.
Rose looked to him. "And who do you think these people are? There's only one business in the world that'll get you this rich."
"War."
Rose nodded. "Selling weapons to the First Order." Her face hardened. "I wish I could put my fist through this whole wretched, beautiful city."
Finn mulled over the revelations for a minute before an energetic squeal from an approaching Bibi-Eit caught his attention. Rose noticed the micronaut jingled like a coin purse, but what he was saying superceded any other concern.
"Red plom bloom!"
Finn and Rose followed the clinking automaton across the casino to an offshoot room. The ambience in here was far different than the high energy of everything else they had seen. Everything had an air of dignity, from the tasteful gold accents, to the soothing string music, to the simple yet elegant attire of the gamblers around the dice table.
One gambler stood out though. He was a man with perfect slicked back hair, an ivory white suit, and a jewelled red plom bloom on his lapel. The man scooped up the dice and held them in front of one of the women at his side and let her blow on them for luck.
"The red plom bloom," Finn blurted, pointing at the man.
Rose laughed with relief. "The Master Codebreaker!"
Rose, Finn, and Bibi-Eit started to rush towards the codebreaker but skidded to a stop when an Abednedo blocked their path.
"Ayup, those are the boat landers," the Abednedo said.
Finn opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a cry of pain as a Canto Bight police officer put the prongs of a stun prod to his neck. Simultaneously, Rose suffered the same fate.
Any ability to resist gone for the moment, the officers shackled their wrists. "You two are under arrest for violation of Cantonic Maritime Ordinance 27B, subsection six."
One of the women at the side of the Master Codebreaker watched the two strangers and their automaton be carried out of the room. "What was that about?"
"I'm sure it was nothing important, lovely," the codebreaker responded, never looking up from the table. "Now, let's keep this streak going, shall we?" He rolled the dice and the other gamblers around the table cheered at his win.
While Rose and Finn were dragged off to the city jail, Bibi-Eit was literally thrown out of the casino. The micronaut squealed an obscene remark towards the police officer and rolled away.
While Luke went about his daily routine, Rey decided to pass the time by practicing her forms with her staff. Back in Jakku, she had built a practice dummy from Imperial armor that was too damaged to be of any value, but here she had to go settle for a standing stone at the edge of a cliff.
For close to two hours, Rey ran the gamut of strikes, thrusts, sweeps, blocks, and parries while an audience of porgs watched with interest. After finishing, she sat on the ground next to her satchel and pulled out her canteen. She gulped down several mouthfuls of crisp water while staring out to sea, wondering how her friends were faring.
Rey wiped her mouth with her sleeve and sighed. It would likely still be some time until Luke came to collect her for the second lesson, but she was too anxious to take the time to relax. As she replaced the canteen in her bag, the metal shell clunked dully against her Lightblade hilt.
She pulled the weapon from the satchel and examined it closely for the first time. It was obviously old and well used based on the light tarnish and numerous scuffs. The design was simple but elegant and hearkened back to a forgotten time when magic was more common.
Rey pressed her thumb to the worn activation rune and watched the blue blade shoot forth. If she was to become a Jedi, she would need to learn to properly wield the blade. She stood and walked back towards the standing stone.
No longer focused on fighting for her life, Rey moved the Lightblade experimentally to get a feel for the weapon's strange balance. Once she had a better understanding of the subtleties, Rey tried out several forms, looking for one that felt right for her. This went on for some time, with Rey always stopping the blade before it hit the stone.
Unbeknownst to Rey, while she practiced with the Lightblade, Luke observed from a distance behind. He noted that her form started out clumsy, but it improved far quicker than he expected. What alarmed him though was Rey's form was practically identical to Ben's, down to even the reverse wield.
As the minutes passed, the confidence Rey had in her technique increased. She closed her eyes and sped up her movements, putting her entire body into her attacks.
Luke's consternation grew as Rey's swordsmanship evolved. He was watching a perfect repeat of Ben's progress. Just who was this girl?
Rey suddenly gasped as a green flash appeared in her mind's eye. She failed to stop her swing and the Lightblade cut cleanly through the standing stone. It tumbled over the side of the cliff.
The Caretaker matron pushed a bonework wheelbarrow along one of Ahch-To's winding trails while speaking with one of her fellow Caretakers. An odd sound came from the cliff above and they stopped and looked to one another. The top of a standing stone suddenly crashed directly into the wheelbarrow before rolling away. The matron glared first at the broken handles in her hands then in the direction that the stone had come from.
Rey retracted her blade and waved to the Lanai apologetically. She heard the crunching footsteps of someone behind her and turned to see Luke walking away. An embarrassed sigh escaped her lips as she wondered how long he had been watching.
As the sky started to take on a red hue and the first sliver of a moon appeared on the horizon, Luke led Rey back to the Temple. Luke sat on one of the rough hewn chairs by the mosaic pool while Rey stood opposite him.
"Lesson two. Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. But if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure, hypocrisy, and hubris."
"That's not true," Rey said, taking a step towards Luke.
The reluctant teacher looked towards his student with stern eyes. "At the height of their power, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out. It was a Jedi Master who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader."
"And a Jedi who saved him," Rey rebutted. "Yes, the most hated man in the world, you saw there was conflict inside him. You believed that he wasn't gone. That he could be turned."
"And I became a legend," Luke said bitterly. "For many years, there was balance and then I saw Ben... My nephew with that mighty Skywalker blood. And in my hubris, I thought I could train him, that I could pass on my strengths." He sighed. "Han was... Han about it, but Leia... She trusted me with her son. I took him and a dozen students and began a training temple."
Luke stood and started pacing. "By the time I realized I was no match for the Darkness rising in him, it was too late."
Rey sat on the elevated rim of the mosaic pool. "What happened?"
Luke turned away and hung his head. "I went to confront him... and he turned on me. He must have thought I was dead. When I came to, the temple was burning. He had vanished with a handful of my students... and slaughtered the rest. Leia blamed Snoke, but it was me. I failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker," he sneered. "Jedi Master." He turned back to Rey. "A legend."
"The world may need a legend... I need someone to show me my place in all this." Rey stood up from the rim of the pool. "And you didn't fail Kylo. Kylo failed you. I won't."
Luke looked to Rey and saw the determination in her eyes. He felt terrible knowing that he was trying to crush her dream, but she needed to understand why it had to be done.
The engine of the medical frigate Anodyne fell silent as the residual heat from the extinguished boiler fires ran out. She immediately started to slow and the rest of the Resistance fleet pulled away. Two transport airships carried away the remainder of those aboard, save for the captain.
Captain Peavey called General Hux to the bridge to update him on the status of the enemy fleet in person. "Their flagship's still keeping beyond range, but their medical frigate is out of fuel." Peavey grinned. "And its wards are weak."
"The beginning of their end," Hux said, looking towards the isolated frigate. "Destroy it."
Every one of the First Order fleet's forward cannons trained on the Anodyne. In less than five seconds, the frigate's wards shattered under the devastating barrage.
The Anodyne's captain hailed Admiral Holdo on his communication font as shells took chunks out of his ship's hull. "Admiral, the last of our crew has been evacuated and is heading your way." A blast rocked the Anodyne with enough force to make it list. "It's been an honor, Admiral. Godspeed, Rebe-"
A direct hit from the Supremacy shredded the Anodyne's bridge. Admiral Holdo stared blankly out the bridge window, trying to stay optimistic despite the ever worsening odds.
"Admiral?"
Holdo turned to look at Lieutenant Connix.
"Stokers are reporting coal reserves at six hours."
Holdo nodded. "Maintain our current course. Steady on."
Connix frowned and turned back to her console.
Poe watched the burning hulk of the Anodyne founder under the cloudy night sky. "Finn... Rose... Where are you guys?"
Above ground, the Canto Bight jail looked to be a large ornate roundhouse surrounded by a tall enchanted wrought iron fence. If it weren't for the barred windows, one would hardly recognize it for what it truly was.
The jail's interior was far different though. Aside from the two top floors of cells for the inmates that could afford preferential treatment, the jail was a six floored subterranean panopticon where foul groundwater seeped through the walls and rats roamed unopposed.
The guards in the panopticon's tower did not particularly care about the plight of their inmates, nor even their actions. Instead, they spent most shifts playing Sabacc. Bibi-Eit watched from the shadows as another hand was dealt, trying his best to devise a plan.
Rose looked to the clock on the tower as she fidgeted with the bezel of her ring. "Finn... The fleet's running out of coal... Without a codebreaker to break us onto Snoke's ship..."
Finn grunted and slammed his fists against the door to their cell.
"What do we do?"
Finn sighed. "I don't know. Unless you've got a thief in your pocket, our plan is shot."
"Uh, I can do it," said a pile of clothes atop a bed.
"What?" Rose asked, both alarmed that they hadn't noticed someone else was in the cell with them and wondering what the speaker meant. Finn immediately followed up with a "what" of his own.
"S-s-sorry," the pile said, sitting up and revealing itself to be an disheveled man in an ill-fitting fur overcoat. He rubbed the corners of his eyes. "I just couldn't help but overhear all the stuff that you were saying really loudly while I was trying to sleep."
Finn and Rose looked to one another with uncertainty.
"Codebreaker? Thief? I can do it."
Finn shook his head. "We're not talking about picking pockets, okay?"
"Uhhh, yeah," the man said, getting to his feet with dramatic slowness. "D-d-don't let the wrapper fool you, friend. Me and the First Order codeage go way back..." He withdrew a tin from a pocket and pulled out a small handroll of smokeweed. "And, if the price is right, I can break you into old man S-S-Snoke's boudoir." He placed the handroll between his lips and snapped his fingers. A flame from a previously unseen match appeared and held it to the tip of the handroll.
"No," Finn said, frowning and shaking his head.
"We're... We've got it covered," added Rose.
The man nodded and exhaled a bittersweet cloud of smoke. "Ha-tuk-ga," he said and pulled what looked to be a long bronze nail from the smokeweed tin. He strolled lazily towards the cell door and inserted the nail into the enchanted lock.
At once, every lock in the panopticon opened. The man hummed to himself and pushed the cell door open with a single finger. He put his hands in his pockets and sauntered out.
Finn blinked. "Did he just...?"
"Yeah," Rose replied, equally stunned.
The two of them darted out of the cell after the unassuming cracksman with Rose taking the lead. "Come on, this way!"
As they rounded the tower towards the lifts, they came face to face with a duo of guards. As much as the guards wanted to prevent any prison break, they were in no condition to do so on account of them having been bound and gagged. Bibi-Eit sat next to them looking triumphant. The three escapees looked at the micronaut, dumbfounded.
"D-d-did you do this?"
Bibi-Eit chirped an affirmative to the strange man.
A third guard came out of the panopticon tower with a revolving shotgun. "Hey! Hands up!"
Bibi-Eit spun around to face the him. Despite what the little automaton had done to his cohorts, the guard did not perceive him as the main threat.
"Hands up," the guard repeated.
"Yeah, man," the cracksman said, his hands already at shoulder height.
Bibi-Eit suddenly fired a stream of casino tokens out of his chassis, pelting the guard in the face. The guard yelped in pain and tried shielding himself with his forearms and shotgun.
The cracksman closed his hands into fists and bobbed from side to side. When the stream of chips ceased, he landed an uppercut to the guard's jaw, knocking him out cold.
Bibi-Eit rolled over to the cracksman as he shovelled handfuls of chips into his pockets. The micronaut warbled inquisitively.
The cracksman paused and looked at the automaton. "What's your story, roundie?"
"They've disabled elevator controls," Rose called out.
"Of course they have," Finn groaned. "Anyone have any bright ideas?"
"Yup," the cracksman said, popping the end of the word.
A minute later, a dozen heavily armed riot guards stormed the panopticon only to find the escapees had vanished. The captain tapped his comm crystal. "Lock down all exits."
"Wait, sir," said one of the other guards. "Look." He pointed to an unlocked sewer access trapdoor.
Elsewhere, Finn climbed out of a hexagonal manhole cover to join Rose while the cracksman and Bibi-Eit continued down the pipe. Rose and Finn had come out into a stable of sorts, judging by the many stalls along the curved back wall.
"That smelled great," Finn said dryly as he resealed the manhole. "Those cops will be here any minute. What now?"
A groan and the sudden appearance of a large head over the stall door next to Finn made him shriek and recoil enough to fall over. He looked up at the creature and immediately recognized it to be a fathier. Even though he knew how big they were from seeing them earlier, being this close to one gave Finn a new appreciation for the fathiers' intimidating size.
Rose jogged over to the penned up canid, laughing with an almost childish joy at being able to get so close to such a magnificent creature.
The fathier let out a mournful moan which was joined by more from the remaining stalls. One by one, fathiers peered over the tops of each set of stall doors.
Rose's smile faded as she looked to each of them in turn. Just as Finn had seen through the binoculars, veritable roadmaps of scars barely hidden by short tan fur covered large swaths of skin. Rose pressed the rune to open the stall doors, and the canid lowered its head timidly.
Finn's and Rose's eyes were immediately drawn to the young boy huddled in the corner, shaking with fear. His eyes darted to an alarm rune on the back wall of the stall, then back to Finn and Rose. The boy scrambled to his feet with his hand outstretched.
"No, wait," Rose pleaded. "Please, don't!"
The boy's hand stopped, hovering over the rune.
Rose removed her ring and showed it to the boy. She rotated the ring's bezel and a mechanical iris opened, revealing the insignia of the New Republic. "We're with the Resistance."
The boy slowly smiled. Two more children emerged from a darkened corner of the stables with eyes showing the same awe that Rose had shown for the fathiers.
A distant voice from somewhere outside the stables startled them all. "Roger that. Checking the stables now."
The boy looked from Rose and Finn to the fathier next to him.
Seconds afterwards, a squad of police entered the stables and fanned out. No sooner had the squad leader barked out his first order than a loud buzzer sounded. The wide door to the racetrack slid upwards. Following their years of training, the canids shot out of the stables like cannonballs, trampling the officers.
The children cheered Finn and Rose on as they and the fathiers tore across the moonlit racetrack. Rose firmly but gently held her mount's reins, elated at being able to fulfill a childhood dream.
Finn, on the other hand, held onto Rose for dear life. "Stop enjoying this! Stop enjoying this!"
A small, two seater airship followed the herd, illuminating the fathiers and fugitives with a spotlight. "We've got them. They're not going anywhere."
Immediately disproving the flying officer, the canids cleared the high fence around the racetrack with their powerful legs. The herd thundered through the immaculately manicured botanical gardens on the other side, leaping and bounding over hedgerows. Finn and Rose ducked to avoid beheading by a row of animal topiaries and yelled in alarm upon seeing that they were barrelling straight towards one of the casino's stained glass windows.
Colorful glass flew through the air as the fathiers smashed into the casino. Gamblers screamed and fell over one another to escape. The sound of a hammer-harp collapsing under the weight of one of the canids added to the cacaphony of screams, pounding paws, and scattering chips.
Tables and chairs fell to gilded splinters under the rampage, streams of expensive drinks flowed around haphazard piles of chips, and people so rich as to never have experienced even the most basic of life's hardships cowered in terror.
The stampede spilled out the front doors of the casino and onto the plaza with the gold plated rearing fathier statue. Screams filled the night air as people scattered in every direction. Not stopping, the fathiers thundered onto the streets of Canto Bight. Shelves in exorbitantly priced shops rattled and collapsed as the fathiers passed. Aristocrats out for evening strolls jumped into alleyways.
The canids hurtled down a side street and through the eponymous Zima blue wall of the Blue Wall club. The patrons inside barely had time to process this before the fathiers were already through the front windows, leaving devastation in their wake.
After a few more turns, the herd reemerged onto Canto Bight's main thoroughfare. Unstoppable and merciless as a tidal wave, they knocked over pedestrians, flattened autocarts, and shattered shop windows.
Finally able to recognize his surroundings, Finn momentarily forgot his terror. "Our boat is on the beach straight ahead!"
A barely audible rising buzz overhead heralded the return of the small police airship. Finn looked up only to be temporarily blinded by the bright spotlight. "We need cover!"
Rose eyed a covered alley a short way ahead that would be perfect. She adjusted her grip and gently tugged the reins, hoping her idea would work. To her surprise and relief, it did, and the canid turned into the alleyway with a few of its herd mates following behind.
Finn and Rose quickly discovered that they had overestimated the size of the alley. They kept their heads down to avoid the unsettlingly close vaulted stone ceiling and the strings of glow rods hanging from it. The deafening fathier footfalls echoed up the alley, making the two riders' teeth rattle.
"Too much cover," Finn yelled a moment before one of the strings tangled around him.
At the end of the alley sat a walled promenade perpendicularly situated overlooking the beachfront. Rose's pulse spiked and she kept her eyes fixed on the black sky beyond, unsure of if the fathiers would have room to jump the walk or how far the drop on the other side would be.
Finn tightened his grip on Rose and the fathier. "Suck it in! Suck it in!"
"Up and over! Come on!"
The fathiers bounded off the top of the wall, clearing the ceiling of the alleyway with hardly any room to spare. In turn, they landed on the white sands of the beach to the great distress of a flock of fat seagulls. The rest of the herd that had continued to the beach from the main thoroughfare soon joined with the smaller group led by Rose's and Finn's fathier.
The sight of the canids pounding down the beach under the light of the moons was a breathtaking one that would be remembered by all who witnessed it. Finn laughed at the wonderful sense of freedom he felt, all fear having melted away. When the boat came into view, he laughed again. "There it is!"
The spotlight from the until then unnoticed pursuing airship illuminated the boat. A single explosive shot screamed towards the beached vessel and tore open the hull.
Finn and Rose both cried out in anguish and the fathiers veered away from the smoking remains. When the two riders looked back in the direction they were going, they cried out again, this time in fear. Directly in front of them was an almost vertical cliff face.
Much to the surprise of both onlookers and those involved in the chase, the fathiers galloped up the craggy rock with almost as much ease as though it was level ground. Once Finn and Rose felt their orientation return to horizontal, they opened their eyes. The entire top of the cliff was blanketed by tall red tipped grass that swayed like ocean waves.
As the fathiers continued to run, the police airship reappeared from over the cliff, bathing the herd in light. The airship's pilot's comm crystal crackled. "Let the herd go. Stick with the perps."
"Copy that," the pilot replied.
As the grass grew taller, the herd split into three groups, with Finn's and Rose's being the smallest. Soon, the colossal grass blades completely obscured them from the airship above.
Finn looked up to see the airships far behind. "I think we lost them. Now we need to get down to the beach and circle back around-"
"Cliff!" Rose screamed as they emerged from the tall grass.
The fathier skidded to a sudden halt, throwing the two of them from its saddle. They slid to a stop just in time, sending dirt and rocks over the edge. Both of them were granted a perfect view of the long fall that they had narrowly avoided.
Finn and Rose climbed back to their feet and saw the searchlights closing in.
"We're trapped," Rose said.
Finn looked back over the cliff edge. "Can you swim?"
"Not when I'm dead!"
Finn sighed. "It was worth it though. To tear up that city. Make them hurt."
Rose locked eyes with the fathier. "No," she said, walking towards it. She unbuckled the saddle and let it fall to the ground. "Go."
The canid bowed its head and took off in the direction that the rest of the herd had gone.
Rose smiled as it vanished into the tall grass. "Now it's worth it."
The buzzing of airship rotors came from over the cliff behind them followed by spotlights. Finn and Rose turned and their hearts sank at the sight of the black flying shape moving towards them. The other searching airships took note and headed their way.
The black airship turned its side towards Finn and Rose and they immediately realized that it did not belong to the police. The evidence for this was as much the lightweight matte black lacquer with gold filigree accentuating the hull's sweeping curves as the orange and white micronaut on the airship's boarding ramp.
Finn's jaw dropped. "Bibi-Eit! Wait, are you flying that thing?"
The cracksman appeared dramatically around the edge of the boarding ramp's frame. "Ah... N-n-need a lift?"
By the time the police had reached the edge of the cliff, the black airship was gone.