Night Chase
"Faster kid," Kisto stood on the roof and looked at the oncoming Imperial tank, "they look like they mean business."
Hermes nodded and pushed a lever, making their vehicle move faster. Kisto shot at the tank with his pistol blaster but the laser shots only uselessly scorched the tank's thick armour. Kisto cursed under his breath before looking back over his shoulder.
"Hey kid, throw me your blaster!"
"Okay!" Hermes reached for his blaster, sheathed in concealment under his jacket
He accidently pulled the trigger, causing a flash of fiery red to hit the corner of their transport's window visor. The Ithorians at the seats covered their heads.
"Sorry. Sorry." Hermes apologised.
"Great, if the Empire doesn't kill us, this guy will." Gido grumbled.
Hermes ignored the comment and threw the blaster back at Kisto who deftly caught it before twirling it and aiming it at the pursuing tank along with his other blaster. He rapidly fired both blasters at the tank but other than making a few more scorch marks, the blasters proved to be ineffective.
Kisto's eyes widened when he saw the mounted gun on the tank swivel to point at him. He dove down as they fired at him. He saw the gun swivel down to aim at the vehicle he was on. Kisto was about to warn Hermes but then the young green Twi'lek took a sharp right.
Kisto gritted his teeth as he tried to hang on to the roof of the vehicle.
The tank missed the turn and had to do a reverse in order to continue pursuing them.
The vehicle began slowly turning away. "Hey kid, what's going on? You're heading the wrong way. The hangar is towards the east and your heading west."
"I'm sorry, sir. The road is curving away from the east."
"Then get off the road!" Kisto said.
"There doesn't seem to be anywhere where we can do that." Hermes looked around frantically but the road continued on with houses densely packed on either side. "Maybe you should take the wheel."
An explosion erupted from the corner the vehicle when one of the tanks fire made contact.
Kisto was thrown off his feet by the small explosion. "I'm kind of busy." Kisto returned fire with his blasters. "And anyways, why would I give you directions when you have someone who knows this place better than us sitting right next to you!"
Hermes looked at the Ithorian at the passenger seat.
"What? Me? No ways!" Gido waved his hands no. "I refuse to be anymore involved in this idiotic endeavor more than I already am!"
"You will help us hammer-brain or we'll all end up in prison!"
"Do not call my son names!" Mrs Cobalt scolded Kisto.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Cobalt."
Hermes looked at Gido expectantly. Gido glanced at him and huffed in annoyance. "Fine! Continue along the road."
After a few more moments there an adjacent road appeared in the distance. "So... do I turn here?"
"No, you have to turn at the next road ahead if we're to get to the ship port quicker!" Gido said.
Another shot from the tank found its target, igniting a fire beneath their vehicle. Just when Kisto thought their vehicle would explode, the fire died down to plumes of black smoke but the vehicle remained moving. The vehicle made another turn and was once again on track to the port.
The tank followed them for a few more meters but then turned off the road. Kisto felt confusion as the tank disappeared.
"We lost them!" Siri said excitedly.
"I don't think they'd give up that easily," Kisto said. "Kid, be ready for anything."
"I'll-I'll try," Hermes said.
Kisto waited for a while. He allowed himself a moment to look up at the starry night sky. His twin head tentacles fluttered behind her as he took a deep breath, just appreciating the momentary peace as he stood on the roof and enjoyed the breeze created by the peacefully humming vehicle as it drove on.
The tank appeared! It came from an adjacent road and drove beside their vehicle.
"Punch it kid!" Kisto coaxed Hermes.
"Its at full speed!"
"That's not possible," Kisto said. He bit his lip as he stared at the smoke trailing behind them that had come from beneath their vehicle. Our transporter was probably damaged and now can't go to full speed. In fact, I think we're slowing down. Kisto thought.
The tank bumped the vehicle and Hermes struggled tyo keep it under control.
"Take this!" Hermes hit the tank but the sturdier tank took the hit without much trouble. Their vehicle however, took some damage from that.
Kisto looked down at the tank from the roof. He saw the sliding door of the tank open and a helmeted Stormtrooper peeked out before training his blaster at the vehicle.
"Stop!" The Stormtrooper said.
Kisto dove into the tank opening, tackling the Stormtrooper into the tank. He fired his gun in the enclosed space, killing many of the troopers inside. The surviving troopers returned fire blindly, hurting their comrades in the process.
The green Twi'lek jumped out of the door to escape. The blaster firing threw the tank into disarray and it crashed into a building before it turned onto its roof.
Kisto landed on the road and rolled before he stopped. He grunted as he got to his feet. Ahead of him was the vehicle. He ran for it and climbed in.
"Thanks for waiting. Now let's go!"
"I'm trying but-but but I can't," Hermes said. "I think its broken."
"What? Move over."
Hermes did as he was told as he scooted over, eliciting a groan from Gido, who Hermes was squeezed against. Hermes pushed a few buttons but the vehicle stayed stationery.
"Ahh damn!" Kisto cursed before he angrily hit the dash board.
"I'm sure Mr. Cobalt can fix it," Hermes looked at the Ithorian expectantly.
There was blaster fire. Some of the Stromtroopers from the tank were exiting and firing at them.
"No time! We need to move!" Kisto jumped out of the vehicle and returned fire with his blasters. "Kid, lead the Cobalt's out of here. I'll draw their attention!"
Hermes led the Cobalts away on the other side. Kisto kept firing until he felt a presence behind him. He looked back to see Siri's massive figure behind him.
"Mr. Cobalt? What are you doing?" Kisto kept his eyes forward. "Your suppose to be following the kid to safety."
"I need to take some of our luggage."
"Luggage? Luggage?" Kisto took cover and looked at Siri. "We're fighting for our lives here and your talking about luggage?"
A shaft of energy exploded at the car. Fire and sparks spewed out, causing Siri's eyes to widen.
"Its going to blow!" Srir said as he tried to run away.
Kisto holstered one of his pistols and grabbed the Ithorian's large hand before pulling him away in the opposite direction.
Siri was confused by this as they were running the opposite way from where his family had gone. Kisto returned fire as he ran but it did not last long as their vehicle exploded in fiery fire. The shockwave buffered them both forward and they landed on their face.
Kisto was the first to get to his feet and he pulled Siri up. Siri looked back at the wrecked and still flaming vehicle. It was then that Siri realised why Kisto had pulled him away. The Twi'lek had realised that they wouldn't make it in time.
They hid among the buildings and kept running.
"What about my family?" Sir asked as he ran through the alleyways.
"I'm handling that," Kisto said. He pressed the communicator at his ear. "Good Boy to Newbie, come in Newbie."
"Kis... i mean Good Boy! I'm glad your okay!"
"Geez, don't sound to excited Newbie," Kisto said.
"What do we do now that we've been separated?" Hermes sounded a little panicked. "Should we wait..."
"No. The mission continues. Get Mrs Cobalt and her son to the ship. I'll get Siri back on my own."
"O-Okay," Hermes sounded unsure, "but do you think I can do it... you know, alone?"
"Of course kid. Now's not the time for doubt kid."
"I'm sorry."
"Wait, did I hear that correctly?" Friman's voice came over the communicator. "Did you get split up with Newbie?"
"Its okay, Motley." Kisto assured as he led Siri through the dark alleyways. "Newbie will do okay and soon we'll both be at the ship."
"Hmpf, you better be." Friman sounded sceptical.
/
Friman grumbled as he waited for any news.
"Heh, you should relax." Jak said coming to stand next to him as they looked at the port entrance from the ship. "There's little we can do now."
"Yeah," Firman grumbled in anger, "I blame Kisto. You know when they told me I was going to work with the great Kisto the Rebel, I was excited. But I didn't know he was... he was..."
"Arrogant? Stubborn? Reckless?" Jak offered.
"...stupid!" Firman spat.
"Well, I heard he's a magnificent pilot."
"Then he should stay in the air." Firman pointed up. "On the ground he is useless. I bet I could take him in a fight."
Jak simply smiled at this. He stiffened when he saw figures running for the ship. "Whose that?"
Friman narrowed his round eyes. "Its... Its Hermes!"
The green Twi'lek and the two Ithorians were running for the ship. Hermes and the Cobalts reached the ramp.
"Is Kisto and Mr. Cobalt here?"
Jak shook his head.
"Oh no," Mrs Cobalt said.
"Don't worry, ma'am." Kisto turned to the Ithorian female. "Kisto the Rebel is the best. He'll get your husband here safely but in the meantime, I suggest you get in the ship."
Mrs Cobalt nodded.
"See mom, this is why we should have nothing to do with rebels. They're all ill-disciplined fools." Gido said as he entered the ship.
"This mission is getting better every time." Jak, while looking at Gido, said with sarcasm.
/
An imperial tank stopped beside the road, followed by two more tanks and a number of hover bikes. The door to the tank opened and Kallus jumped out. He raised an eyebrow at the scene of destruction. On the side of the road was a an overturned tank and further down the road a twist of smouldering metal that used to be a hover vehicle.
"Soldier, tell me what happened here." Kallus commanded one of the troopers.
"Sir, the men of the tak pursued the hover vehicle that the Cobalts attempted to escape in." The Trooper began. "Our men were able to stop the vehicle but the Cobalts' escorts fired back at them and escaped before they could apprehend them."
Kallus rubbed his blonde neatly cut beard in thought. He took out a holo-disk and activating, allowing a blue hued map to hologram above the disk.
"So this is where they began," a red line traced the roads the rebels took until the point of the wreckage, "and this is where they were forced to abandon their vehicle. They slightly veer of course but I suspect that they were heading east." Kallus used the path to court ahead for anything of interest. The holographic map stopped scrolling when it came across something of interest. "There seems to be a small ship port to the east of here. Divert most of our people there and make sure no ship takes off."
/
Kisto and Siri were approaching the port. It was now just two streets away.
"Motley to Good Boy," Kisto's radio sounded.
"Good Boy here," Kisto answered.
"Where are you two? Newbie is already here with his package. Where the hell are you?"
"I'm coming. I'm just two streets away..." Kisto and Siri had to dive behind a building as a hover bikes with Stormtroopers passed by. "Uhm, we might have a problem. There seems to be a lot of Troopers heading your way."
"What?" Firman sounded like he was about to burst into anger.
Kisto and Siri kept going but stopped in front of the port.
The entrance was packed with Stromtroopers.
Firmen looked through the window of the Motley as Stromtroopers swarmed the hanger.
"This is bad. What should we do?" Hermes began panicking.
"We have to launch before they close the hanger down." Firman said. "Jak get ready to launch!"
"Wait what about Kisto and Siri?" Hermes asked as he followed Firman.
"Either we wait for them and we all get caught or we leave now." Firman sat at the co-pilot chair. "Good Boy, we're being closed in by Troopers."
"Then take off." Kisto said. "We're right outside, so all you have to do is pick us up in the outside."
The Motley rumbled to life before it hovered above ground.
"That's it! That's the rebel ship! Shot it down!" Kallus, who was on the ground, commanded.
The troopers began shooting at the ship, even as it blasted out of the closing hanger doors.
"Alright, Good Boy. Where are you?" Firman looked around below ground.
Kisto and Sirti was about to come out of their hiding place until Tie fighters and a Battle cruiser appeared above. The Tie fighters began shooting at the Motley.
"We're taking heavy fire here! Jak, man the cannons!" Firman said.
Jak ran out of the pilot chair and Firman took the controls. Jak got to the weapon room and began shooting at the quick Tie Fighters, taking one out immediately.
"This is bad," Firman said. "I don't know if we can fight out of this."
"You can't!" Kisto said. "They're trying to close you off. You need to escape the planets atmosphere before they close in o you."
"We can;t leave you!" Firman argued.
"You need to get the Cobalts out of here. We'll contact you when we have the chance."
"That is not our mission, Good Boy!" Firman said. "Our mission is to get SiriC obalt to the rebel base, not his... not his family!"
The ship shook as it took fire from the battle cruiser.
"You don't have a choice Firman. You don't have a choice Motley." Kisto said. "If you stay, you not only disobey a direct order form your superior, you also risk the mission."
Firman griited his teeth before relenting. "Fine, contact us when you can."
The ship angled up into the sky and took off. Once it was out of the planet's atmosphere, it went into lightspeed.
Meanwhile, Kisto and Siri was at the bottom.
"Now what do we do?" Siri asked Kisto.
The green Twi'Lek looked at Siri. "Now, we find our own ride."