OOO
Chapter Eight.
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Barriss straightened her hood, pulling the midnight-colored fabric tight. "Do you have everything?"
Aiden held up Dak's data pad with one hand, and patted his pocket with the other, Barriss' old communicator pressing into his thigh. "Not exactly a lot to keep track of."
She nodded, walking past him to the room's door. "Let's get moving, then."
She slapped the panel on the frame, and rusty durasteel grinded open.
Nothing ventured... He blew out a breath, and followed her out into the hall, glancing at the door across from his. I wonder what the odds are she won't notice us leave.
"Once we're outside, keep your head down and don't look at anyone," Barriss said.
They passed the front desk, the nikto eyeing them, and Aiden snuck a peek over his shoulder, catching a flash of bone-white skin in the hallway, made ghostly under pale light.
No rest for the wicked, then. He tensed his jaw, and ducked his head as pink neon ushered them onto dark streets.
Silence pressed down like a weighted blanket draped over the walkway, smothering what little light that flickered with tingling paranoia that raised the hair on the back of his neck. It wasn't this empty before, was it?
Green fingers wrapped around his bicep, giving him a tug. "This way." She pulled him toward the shadows of an alley across the street.
He tucked the data pad into a pocket as the mouth of the alley swallowed them, a rat skittering behind a dumpster to his right. "Do you know where we're going yet?"
Her hood hid her face from him, but her grip on his arm tensed. "No, but the others could already be on their way here to look for you. Any passing skycar could be them. We can't afford to wait until I think of something."
Through the murky fog choking the corridor, a taxi platform appeared beyond the edge of the alley, suspended over a chasm of rising steam.
Not a single taxi idled on it.
Barriss slowed, bringing him to a stop with her next to a particularly rank trash heap, and she frowned.
Since when are there no taxis around? Come to think of it, there wasn't anybody around. The silence pressed down harder, and he looked over his shoulder. "We walking, then?"
"No, that would take... too... long..." Her voice became distant, and her fingers dug deeper into his arm, tingly numbness shooting through his nerves.
He winced, and raised an eyebrow at the back of her hood. "Ouch, Barriss. What—"
She whipped around, cloak swirling like a vortex as she yanked him hard behind her.
He cried out, slamming face-first into grimy duracrete as a snap-hiss burst azure light over him. The shriek of a blaster tore the silence, red flashes scorching down from above, clashing against sweeps of light.
"Aiden, run!"
Fire crashed through his veins. You have got to be kidding! He planted his hands against the grime, scrambling to his feet as blaster bolts chewed the ground. Did that bleached psycho think he ratted her out?
A lanky figure hidden under a wide-brimmed hat emerged from behind a piercing, yellow sign cutting the darkness above them, twin blaster pistols spewing down fire. "Don't get yourself killed for nothin', Jedi. All I want's the slicer."
Aiden's teeth clenched. "Palpatine," he spat.
"Aiden, go!" Barriss' saber blurred, the blade humming frantically as she twirled it faster than he could track. "Now!"
"What about you?"
"Now!"
He growled deep in his chest, and glared at the neon-backed silhouette above before turning and sprinting through the fog, his heart hammering against his sternum as the hum of Barriss' saber echoed like an accusation in his ears. I am getting really sick of running.
The alley split into a four-way intersection, and a stray bolt shrieked past his head, smoking a trail that stung his nose as he dove around the corner, sucking musty air with each pounding step. Stay alive, Barriss.
Light swept across the mouth of the alley ahead of him, and an airspeeder shot around the corner, swirling the dank mist as it touched down. A familiar ghostly-white figure haunted the driver's seat.
"Get in." Sing jabbed a thumb at the seat behind her.
This night just got better and better.
He made a sound in his throat, and planted his hands against the cold side of the speeder, lifting a foot over. Barriss… He stopped short, and looked back to the alley, the distant fog still lighting up in flashes of red and blue.
"What are you waiting for?" Sing grated.
Could he really just walk away and leave her to die in some alley? She was the only one who believed him about Palpatine. The only one who might actually be able to do something about it. Without her, he'd already be dead.
Something rolled inside him, refusing to move. No. I am done running. He might have been a rat, but he wasn't a coward, and he wasn't gonna just cut and run like some punk. She deserved better than that, at least.
"Are you stupid?" Sing said. "Get in the speeder!"
The speeder... He tapped a finger against the metallic siding. He couldn't fight, but maybe he could level the playing field a little...
"Get out," he said, still looking down the alley.
Her voice became dangerous. "Excuse me?"
The feeling surged, choking out the last embers of fear in his gut, and he looked at her through set brows. "Get. Out."
Her lips pulled back in a sneer that bared fangs. "I don't know how you think this works, but if you think—"
He grabbed her by the straps of her top, clenching his fingers around the rough fabric, and he yanked her out of the seat, letting her fall to the ground as he jumped behind the controls. He hit the thruster and the speeder rumbled into the air.
She scrambled to her feet and snarled. "You're dead!"
"Take a number." He brought the speeder around, and rose above the top of the alley.
The creep in the hat hovered like a phantom over a blue glow spilling up from the alley, tiny spurts of flame shooting from his boots as he fired his blasters downward, the blue light shifting with each shot.
Suck fender, creep. Aiden pointed the nose of the speeder straight at him, and shoved the accelerator forward. The speeder jolted and launched like a rocket, throwing him back in his seat as the engine screamed.
The creep looked up, and red eyes widened under the brim of the hat.
"Smile, bastard!"
The creep pivoted a second too late, and the front end of the speeder smashed into his left foot with a scraping crunch.
A sharp crack and spark shot from the tiny thruster attached to his boot, the flame spurt dying out, and a nasally yell echoed through the night as he burned a winding trail through the air on one thruster, still firing sporadically as he plummeted downward, out of control.
Aiden punched the air. "Yes!"
He looped the speeder back around, and landed in a scraping stop between the motel and the alley.
Barriss stood motionless in the blue haze, saber humming as she stared at him like he was a rancor wearing a dress.
"You coming or what?" he called.
She shook her head and ran toward him, cloak billowing as she deactivated her saber.
"Scoot over," she said as she reached him.
He slid over to the passenger side, and she jumped into the driver's seat and seized the controls. "Where did you get this?"
He froze. "Uh... Does it matter?"
She sighed and shook her head, the speeder rumbling as they rose from the ground.
Did I misread something? "I thought you'd be happy," he said.
"I told you to run. Not to hotwire a speeder and commit vehicular manslaughter."
He raised a finger. "Defensive vehicular manslaughter."
"There's no such thing as—"
A blaster bolt zipped by their faces and slammed into the dashboard.
His heart jumped, and he spun around.
The creep rocketed toward them, flames shooting from his boot once more, red eyes flashing.
"Barriss!" How is he okay after that hit?!
She punched the accelerator, and the speeder launched forward, sending his stomach into his throat as neon signs blurred into streams of light.
Shots cracked against the back of the speeder, punching charred holes through battered metal. "He's going for the engine!"
A bolt smashed through the melted plating, and a muffled pop crackled inside the engine compartment, smoke pouring from the breach.
Alarms rang from the instruments in the dashboard, the displays flashing red, and Barriss grit her teeth as the controls shook in her hands. "We're losing power."
Oh, joy… "That seems to be what happens when you and I get in a vehicle together," he shouted over the rushing wind.
The speeder pitched to the side, throwing him against cold metal, and a few stray shots sailed over them, streaking into a lane of sky-traffic ahead.
Skycars swerved and jostled as red bolts crashed through. A small transport broke from its lane, accelerating straight at them.
"We're going down." Barriss strained against the controls, angling the sinking nose of the speeder toward an empty loading dock below.
His stomach flipped, and he dug his fingers into cracked leather as they plummeted downward, right at a pile of mean-looking shipping containers. "You were right! I shouldn't have come back for you!"
"Hold on tight!"
The engine screeched, and he pinched his eyes shut.
Crash!
A crunching jolt slammed through him, the speeder's internal inertia-dampening field making it feel like a charging bantha ramming him into a wall of gelatin. Grinding metal tore through every other sound like a wail piercing his ears, the seat rattling and scraping under him.
Crunch!
He smacked into the dashboard. Copper pain shot through his head. He snapped back, eyes fluttering, and warm liquid dripped down his face.
"Aiden!" Hands gabbed him, pulling him over the mangled side of the speeder as blaster bolts smashed and fizzled against the crumpled metal.
He collapsed to the ground over a shard of broken headlight that ripped his sleeve like a wincing lance of pain. Blast!
The tinny rush of mini-thrusters swept nearer. "Big mistake, slicer. Now, it'll be your last."
Barriss ignited her saber and stood over him. "Get up, Aiden."
He pressed his hands into the layer of dust coating the platform, arms burning with protest as he pushed himself to his knees. What he wouldn't give for a blaster right now...
A deep rumble washed out the sound of the creep's jet-boots.
A transport descended through the haze, its side-door sliding open as it angled toward the creep like a capitol ship about to deliver a broadside barrage to an enemy vessel.
What the...
An orange blur leaped out of the transport, a green blade exploding to life as she soared through the air, smashing into the creep and sending them both tumbling as he dropped a blaster and grabbed her wrist, fighting to not get skewered as he wrestled the blade away from his face.
Aiden's eyes widened. "Did you call for backup when I wasn't looking?"
Barriss didn't respond, staring at the lowering transport with more fear than when they were getting shot at.
"Barriss?"
The transport touched down, kicking up clouds of swirling amber, and two figures emerged—Shaak Ti, and the woman he recognized as Barriss' master.
Their eyes locked with his, and his stomach dropped. Oh, no...
The creep tucked a leg in, and kicked the orange blur off of him with a grunt.
She arced backward through the air and landed in a crouch, pulling a second saber from her belt and igniting it. "Hope we're not interrupting, Bane."
Bane sneered. "Skywalker's brat. I shoulda known you'd be part of this somehow."
Two more snap-hisses echoed across the loading dock as Shaak and the other woman ignited their own sabers.
Bane looked at the newcomers, and bared rows of jagged teeth. He turned his blood-red gaze on Aiden, and the veins in his hands popped as he squeezed the life out of his remaining blaster, pivoting and rocketing away as fast as his micro-thrusters would burn, disappearing into the murky night.
Aiden blinked against the warm drops trying to run into his eyes, and looked from the shrinking dots of light to the glowing blades held in the hands of Jedi masters.
I think I preferred Bane.
The blades disappeared with a hiss, leaving the platform dark, and three Jedi stood before him, looking between him and Barriss with expressions ranging from curiosity, to severity.
That was it, then. It was over. Barriss could have gotten them away from Bane, but now...
Barriss stood frozen, her lips parted as she stared at her master.
"Padawan..." Something just shy of fear tinged the older woman's voice. "Please, tell me you can explain this."
Barriss' knuckles whitened as she gripped her saber, her breaths coming quick and shallow. "Master... I..." Her eyes flicked to Aiden, to her master, and then to the transport idling across the platform.
"Padawan?"
Aiden's brow pinched.
"Padawan, I asked you a—"
Barriss looked at her, and she swallowed. "I'm sorry, Master." She shoved her hands forward, and all three Jedi flew back like they got struck by an invisible speeder, tumbling across the loading dock as their sabers clattered to the ground.
Aiden's jaw dropped, and Barriss clamped her hand around his arm. "Come on!"
She grabbed him and lept through the air toward the transport, his stomach twisting. "Whoa!"
They flew into the open side-door, and he hit the floor of the passenger compartment with a thud, Barriss already disappearing into the cockpit.
"Padawan!" A cry echoed outside.
The shuttle rumbled, and a glimpse of whipping black robes appeared in a cloud of amber before the side-door slid shut with a metallic clang.
His body pulsed. Was Barriss really doing this?
The hum of the engines shot to a higher pitch, and the shuttle catapulted forward, throwing him to the side with gasp.
Yes. Yes she was.
He planted his hands against the grated metal, and grasped the edge of one of the seats lining the compartment, pulling himself up against the g-force and stumbling to the cockpit.
Barriss sat in the pilot's seat, body rigid as she stared straight ahead, navigating through the dank fog of the underworld like falling through the depths.
He huffed out a breath and plopped down into the copilot's chair, wiping a drop that threatened to find his eye before turning to her. "I seriously underestimated how—"
Wide, violet eyes stared through the glass without actually looking at anything. Tension radiated off of her like heatwaves. Something cracked, and then expanded inside him.
He stopped short, lines creasing his brow, and he tentatively leaned toward her. "...Barriss?"
Her jaw tensed, and a quiet whisper through parted lips hit him harder than anything else that night.
"I told you to run."
END CHAPTER