The stolen cargo transport raced erratically across the light-filled night sky of Coruscant, pursued closely by half a dozen Security Force cruisers. The lights and sirens of the pursuers' vehicles, though necessary for the chase to make sure that no one got in their way for their quarry, also worked in the favor of the pursued, as there were significantly fewer obstacles for the pilot to navigate around.
Still, that pilot, former Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila, would have preferred a much slower trip without anyone to chase her or her compatriots.
With her aboard the vessel were about five other people, four of whom were conscious to feel fear during the pursuit. The one who had no idea of his current predicament was also the person who was encased in carbonite and the reason that Tahiri and her compatriots were being chased by the police: Jedi Knight Valin Horn, recently sprung from the Armand Isard Correctional Facility.
"Any idea on how to lose 'em, Tahiri?" Jedi Knight Seff Hellin asked from the copilot seat.
"I was hoping you'd have an idea, Seff," Tahiri replied without taking her eyes away from the skylane ahead. She promptly swerved off to the right to avoid crashing into a building before she asked, "Why don't you try using the Force to knock them out of the sky?"
"I'm not that powerful anymore," Seff answered, his hands grasping on his seat's arms. "Nor would I do it to intentionally harm or kill innocent police officers even if I was still that powerful."
Since Abeloth's death not too long ago, Seff had been reduced to his normal level of ability in the Force just as he also lost the perception that everyone around him was an impostor. As a result, Tahiri was able to recruit him and the other three Jedi with them—Natua Wan, Avinoam Arelis, and Valin Horn's sister Jysella—into her plan to bust Valin out of his confinement.
The recruitment process itself wasn't that difficult; considering the fact that everyone here had the Force, Tahiri was able to use it to call upon all of the Jedi who were hiding from the forces commanded by Galactic Alliance Chief of State Daala. Within a matter of days, Tahiri was able to get all of the Jedi who had remained hidden and safe from the GA military and Daala's Mandalorian death squads to a secret hideout. From there came the plan to rescue Valin.
Now that the carbonite-encased Jedi was within their illegal custody, Tahiri and the other Jedi were on their way back to the secret Jedi hideout. The only thing that could get in their way now was, obviously, the police cruisers on their tail.
Even in the midst of her frantic piloting, Tahiri was still able to think of a brief prayer to the Force itself to not get any Mandalorian mercenaries involved.
And as if the Force actively rejected that prayer, a trio of Mandos flying on jetpacks came into view several dozen meters ahead. Each of them fired a rocket toward the Jedi-piloted ship.
Tahiri quickly banked to the left and rocketed the ship deeper into Coruscant's bowels; however, the proximity alarm rang from her sensors, indicating that each rocket was now following the Jedi vessel.
"Smart missiles!" Seff cried out for the benefit of the Jedi in the passenger compartment. "Hang on, everyone!"
Tahiri poured more speed even as the rockets, the police cruisers, and the jetpacked Mandos raced down after them.
"Seff, can you at least use the Force to divert even one of those rockets?" Tahiri asked.
He nodded, even though he knew that she couldn't see him. "That shouldn't be too hard," he said.
Seff closed his eyes and raised a hand. On the threat proximity screen, Tahiri caught, via her peripheral vision, that the leftmost smart missile was wavering very slightly in its course. However, it wasn't getting anywhere near the missile right next to it.
Tahiri actually considered helping Seff when a swarm of mynocks suddenly sprang out from the Vongformed darkness below. Quickly, Tahiri sent the ship up into a steep climb, with the belly barely making contact with any of the mynocks.
Seconds later, before Tahiri leveled out from the climb, an explosion rocked the ship from the outside. Thankfully, it didn't last long, and Tahiri was able to set the vessel back on a straightforward path and even take a glance at the sensors.
All three smart missiles were gone; apparently, at least one of them must have detonated upon one of the mynocks and not only annihilated that swarm, but inadvertently destroyed its two partners.
However, the jetpacked Mandos and the police cruisers were still on their tail.
"All right, I have an idea," Tahiri said. "Seff, go cut a hole back in the passenger compartment's floor, one big enough to fit Valin through."
Seff looked at her in askance. "You can't be thinking what I think you're thinking," he said with a slight panicked tone.
"Oh, yes, I am," Tahiri said.
Seff only offered a brief sigh in protest, but still unstrapped himself from his seat and headed back.
Moments later, after evading laserfire from the Mandos, Seff called back, "It's done!"
With that pronouncement, Tahiri unstrapped herself from her seat, set the ship to autopilot, and followed Seff back into the passenger compartment.
She had barely caught Seff jumping down through the hole that she told him to cut before she, too, plunged out of the vessel. Behind her, as she soared down through the air with the other Jedi, the ship plowed into an abandoned building with a satisfying explosion.
Above her, the Mandos and the police cruisers continued to follow her and the other Jedi down to Vongformed Coruscant.
That was just fine by Tahiri.
As she and the other Jedi touched down on the moss-covered ground with Force-cushioning landings, the Mandos and the police cruisers set down even more gently and surrounded the Jedi.
"Don't move, Jedi," the Mando in the center of his trio of thugs commanded. He and his cohorts had their blasters trained upon their quarry. "Hands above your head!"
"What, you mercs speak for the police now?" Tahiri spat as she nevertheless complied.
"We speak for ourselves, Veila!" Captain Oric Harfard called out. He and the other police officers had just come out of their vehicles and aimed their blasters at the Jedi in defensive postures. "Now get on your knees, all of you!"
Before any of the Jedi could attempt to obey that command, a series of shrill shrieks echoed throughout the Vongformed landscape around them. Soon, large shadows started to form where the scant light from above could shine at all; naturally, the Mandos and cops turned their attention from the Jedi to whoever the new arrivals were.
Moments later, large bands of feral beings of various species began to pour out of buildings, alleyways, and even open manholes and raced toward the congregation that came from above.
Immediately, the mercs and officers began to fire upon the incoming swarm just as the six active Jedi all ignited their lightsabers. They all leaped out from the circle that their pursuers had formed around them, with Jysella and Avinoam being the ones to physically carry Valin's encased form even as they soared through the air, and they all landed in the midst of the Ferals.
But while the Jedi did find themselves having to chop down the lunatics around them, the Ferals mostly focused their efforts on trying to overpower the Mandos and cops that Tahiri and her compatriots just escaped from.
It didn't take long after that before the Jedi found themselves an open alleyway, free of any Ferals, to deactivate their lightsabers, hook them back to their belts, and catch their breaths.
But once they had all collected themselves, it was Seff who looked at Tahiri in anger. Before she could hope to defend herself, Seff backed her up against the wall behind her and pinned her there by her shoulders.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Seff growled. "You could have gotten us all killed back there!"
"Keep your voice down, you idiot," Tahiri snarled as she tried to push back from him. "You might attract one of those things!"
"And you knew the risk to those cops!" Seff continued, having completely ignored Tahiri's warning. "They could be dead right now!"
"They were on our ass with those Mandos," Tahiri countered as she was quickly losing her patience. "You didn't exactly come up with any brilliant ideas yourself. What would you have had me do? Surrender and get ourselves killed by those Mandos? It's not like any of those cops would have been able to do anything about it even if they tried. Now get your damn hands off me."
Seff looked offended, but not by her threat. "You never cared about those cops, did you, Veila? You don't care if you just killed them by leading them to those things!"
At that, Tahiri grit her teeth and used the Force to enhance her own strength to push back against Seff. A second later, he was the one with his back pinned up against the wall behind him.
"Don't think that I don't care, Hellin," Tahiri growled. "I wouldn't have gone on this mission if I didn't care about Valin. But if we didn't lose those cops, we wouldn't have gotten away. So if that means that I just signed their death warrants, I'll live with that on my conscience and let the Force or Master Skywalker or whoever judge my actions."
"Look, can we save this argument for later?" Jysella was the one to speak up. "We're close to the hideout. Let's just go before any of those Ferals come after us."
After a bit of hesitation, Tahiri let Seff go. He looked back at her warily as he straightened himself out.
No one said another word before they reached their hideout: an abandoned warehouse that hadn't been used for hundreds of years.
Inside were all five dozen Jedi who had survived Daala's Mandalorian purge on the Temple some time ago. They had congregated here and were now waiting in the central area of the ground floor; they looked expectantly at Tahiri and her band of Jedi, who came back with their carbonite-encased fellow.
"All right, let's go," Tahiri said to Bazel "Barv" Warv.
He nodded, bent down to the floor, and lifted up a massive piece of conspicuously clean tiling. A ladder was revealed leading into the sewer system below, and Tahiri was the first one to climb down.
One by one, the other Jedi followed suit and allowed Tahiri to lead the way. Barv was right beside her. Soon, the encased Valin was among the growing gathering in the sewers, tended to by the other Jedi who helped save him.
Less than two hours later, the Jedi mass reached another ladder. Tahiri was the first to climb up, and when she reached the top, she used the Force to lift up the section of false floor above her. She set it aside on the actual floor upon which she emerged and was greeted by Imperial Remnant Head of State Jagged Fel in his refresher.
"You got him?" Jag asked.
Tahiri nodded wordlessly.
"Then let's start getting you all off this planet," Jag said.