Andean, Swoop training track
Marin watched as Kinnar and Kaily raced by the finish line on their swoops.
"Looks like Kaily's hours of fine-tuning finally payed of!" Jann said as he sat next to Marin. "She almost had him on that last straight. "
"Yeah, Marin answered. "She's getting closer. But Kinnar's still faster in the corners. "
They were sitting in the grass next to the make shift swoop training track near the town. Marin often hung out there with her friends. They would show off their latest tweaks to their swoop bikes and race each other for fun. It was a warm summer evening and the sun was already starting to set.
They watched as the two swoops slowed down and turned off the track towards them.
"Whoooo did you see that?" Kaily said enthusiastically. "I almost had you there!"
"You wish. " Kinnar answered. "But I have to admit, you were pretty fast on the straights."
"Hah! Next time, you're mine!" Kaily replied.
"Good race you two!" Marin said to the two swoop racers who had just rode up and stopped where Marin and Jann were sitting. "Keep this up and it'll get really interesting next year in the silver line run. "
"You bet it will be interesting!" Kaily replied. "Because I'll win! Hahah!"
"We'll see Kaily! Hey Kinnar, " Marin said. "I'm heading home. It's getting dark and Jes should be coming back tonight. You coming or staying?"
"Yeah, I'm going back too. I'll ride along to fender's pass. See you around guys!"
"Till next time Kinnar! I'll beat you then!"
Kaily said as Marin and Kinnar road off.
"Bye!" Yelled Jann.
They decided not to race this time and casually rode off next to each other towards the setting sun.
"How are things at home Kinnar, everything ok with your parents?"
"I guess. My father is upset about something with the trade committee though. He doesn't talk to me about it but I hear him getting angry from time to time. He keeps saying something like this wouldn't have happened if he'd been on the committee. "
"Yeah, I hear Art going on about it all the time. Not sure what's going on though. " Marin replied.
"I'm sure it'll be fine though. " Kinnar said. "They're always fussing about one deal or another this time a year. "
"Yeah," Marin said absent mindedly. She felt a weak tingling in the back of her mind. She couldn't place it. Must be the sun in her eyes.
As they were riding along a forest road a black speeder suddenly came out of the tree line and stopped in the middle of the road.
"Whooah, watch out!" Kinnar yelled as they came to an abrupt stop about twenty yards from the speeder. Four men stepped out. One in some kind of uniform and three in white armor.
"What the hell is this?!" Kinnar asked out loud.
Marin recognized with a shock that the tingling in the back of her mind had been a warning. They'd found her.
Quietly she asked Kinnar: "Kinnar, listen carefully and do as I say.."
"Ok Marin, but do you know what's going on here?"
"They're after me Kinnar. " She said as she looked over her shoulder. Three troopers in white armor on military speeder bikes had come out of the trees and stopped on the road behind them, blocking a possible retreat.
"I can't let them get me Kinnar. There's no time to explain. I'm going to create a diversion. Then we'll both race our swoops into the woods and make for the Haal homestead. If they get me anyway, get Jes. Tell him what happened. He'll know what to do. "
Suddenly she was interrupted.
"Marin Koorna. You are under arest for betrayal of the empire. Step down from your swoop bike, lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head. "
The man in the uniform said with a loud, commanding voice. The soldiers lined up their rifles and aimed straight at Marin and Kinnar.
"But who are they Marin? What is going on?" Kinnar asked with a hint of panic in his voice as he watched the soldiers take position to cover both flanks.
"No time. You have to trust me Kinnar. Remember what I said. Get to Jes.
Marin suddenly lay flat on her bike and sent the bike forward at full throttle towards the speeder. She quickly hit a glance over her shoulder and saw Kinnar race off into the woods to his left. She got ready to make a sharp turn to her right when she felt a sharp sting in her back. Everything went black.
Andean, Haal homestead
When Jes landed his transport shuttle back at the farm it was already getting dark. He went inside and met Art who was just coming down the hallway.
"Hey Jes, welcome back. Howd'it go? Got all the parts we need?" Art asked.
"That'll have to wait Art. I have some disturbing news. Where is Marin?" Jes asked quickly.
Esper came walking into the hallway alarmed by the sound.
"Marin is out. She went to the swoop track by the town with Some friends. She should be back anytime now though. She didn't want to miss you coming back." Esper said.
"Ok. " Jes said. "Listen, I met with that friend of mine on Mirakeii. The one working for Corellian intelligence. When I asked him about Insel Bio he told me they were a front for the Empire, tasked with acquiring resources necessary for their military expansion. He told me they are also known to use 'alternative methods' to reach their goals." Jes explained.
"Like bribery and threats. Huh! I knew these guys were no good. " Art said.
"Exactly, it matches what we've seen here. The problem is their investigation was halted and all intelligence resources were reassigned before they could gather the necessary evidence. So he couldn't tell me much more. He suspects the empire is behind that too. So we don't really know what will happen if we refuse their offer. I suspect that it depends on how badly the Empire needs the resources. If negotiations fail, they might come and take them by force. " Jes said.
"Damnit. So we might me screwed either way? " Art asked.
"Looks like it. There is something else. My friend told me that he had serious suspicions that someone was on to Marin and me. That they might have found out that we are here. "
"How is that possible? No one here knows who you are but us?" Art said surprised.
"Well," Jes continued. " he also said there were also indications that Insel was covertly gathering intel for the empire. They might have caught us on facial recognition by pure luck." Jes explained.
"Damnit. What are the bloody odds?!" Art said frustrated. "Well, what do we do now?"
"I will talk to Marin when she gets back. But we'll probably have to move. We just cannot take the risk of staying. "
"I think that's her now. " Esper interrupted, pointing to a headlight followed by a dust cloud rapidly coming up the access road towards the farm. Jes and Art quickly stepped outside. They were surprised to see it was Kinnar, not Marin who made an abrupt stop right in front of them and jumped off so quickly that he almost fell over.
"Mister Darrin please! You have to help me! " Kinnar said with a panicked voice.
"They've got Marin! They came and... they, they attacked us and they...they're right behind me!" Kinnar yelled with tears welling in his eyes.
"It's ok Kinnar, try to calm down. Who's behind you?" Jes asked, recognizing a crisis.
"Soldiers! In white armor!" Kinnar yelled.
"Ok, how many?" Jes asked.
"Three I think. I mean, there were more but I think the rest stayed with Marin."
"Jes, look. " Art said while pointing down the access road. Headlights. Multiple speeder bikes probably.
"Alright, first things first. Esper, take Kinnar down to the basement and stay quiet till we come get you. Art, get your hunting rifle ready and directly point it at them when they come to the front of the house demanding an explanation for the trespassing. I hope that this will make them want to deescalate before they start shooting. It might buy us some time. If they're really soldiers they will send someone to the back of the house. I will take Kinnar's swoop to the barn and find a cover position. I'll try to take out any soldiers trying to flank us as silently and quickly as possible. Try to stall them at the front as long as you can. Don't take any chances though. When you think they're going to shoot, take them out. If there's more than one, Start with the one on the left. You won't see me but I'll be there and take them out from the right. You got this Art?"
"Got it! " Art said while taking his hunting rifle from Esper who had already got it and checked the charge. He walked to the porch. Jes got out his heavy blaster, removed the safety and headed over to the hastily parked swoop.
Two of the speeder bikes stopped about twenty yards from the house. Jes observed from his position at the side of the house. The kid had been right, the soldiers in white armor stepped out and as Jes expected. The third bike immediately went to the back of the house. Jes followed him quietly.
Art saw two troopers approaching the porch. He raised his rifle to take aim at the left most trooper. "You are trespassing on my land. Identify yourself!" He called out.
"We are with the imperial navy. We're tracking a dangerous fugitive. Place your weapon on the ground now or we will be forced to open fire." the leftmost trooper said.
"There are no fugitives here, I'm alone. You must be mistaken." Art said, hoping to stall them for a while.
"We don't have time for this." The left most trooper said agitated. "Last warning, Place your weapon on the ground and get on your knees with your hands behind your head or we will open fire!"
Art's heart was in his throat. It was now or never. It was an easy shot. Point blank range with a high powered hunting rifle. When he saw the trooper on the left move his rifle up he didn't hesitate and shot him in the chest. The trooper fell backwards. Before the other one could react he sagged to the floor. On The back of his helmet was a large scorched hole. Jes stepped out of the shadows of a nearby tree, holstering his blaster.
"Ok, that's all of them. " Jes said.
"The one in the back?" Art questioned.
"Taken care of. " Jes answered. "Ok, I'll get the bodies and the speeders out of here as quickly as possible. Go inside and try to calm down Kinnar. He needs to tell us exactly what happened.
"...and then she told me to trust her and make my way here through the woods as quickly as possible to find you! I managed to take a quick glance over my shoulder as I turned into the trees and I saw Marin's swoop crash but I think she wasn't on it anymore. She must have fallen off. But then they hit the back of my swoop. Nothing critical but I had to struggle to keep it under control. "Kinnar paused as he suddenly realized something horrible. "Mr. Darrin, do... do you think she's... I mean, did they... kill her?" Kinnar asked with a shaking voice.
"I think she's still alive Kinnar. " Jes said with more conviction then he actually had. "See, you told me they had an ambush ready, but they stopped you and ordered Marin to surrender first. If they wanted to kill her they could have shot her from her swoop without even stopping you two. Also, the other speeder with the rest of the soldiers didn't follow you. That makes me think they had another important task. Like take Marin into custody. I believe they wanted to capture her, not kill her. " Jes explained.
"But we'll have to find out to be sure. "
Kinnar looked a little bit more relieved. "But why? Why would they be after her at all?" Kinnar asked desperately.
"Well, " Jes shook a glance at Art, who nodded slightly. " She trusts you. I guess I better explain a few things..."
"A Jedi?! Really? It all sounds so unbelievable..." Kinnar had listened to Jes' short version of their story but had a hard time believing any of it.
"Are you..." Kinnar started to ask, but he was too startled to finish.
"No, I just worked at the temple. And, I don't know the technicalities but she was studying to become one. " Jes said. When Kinnar kept looking at him he continued:
"She told me you asked her to join in the Silver Line races right?"
"Yeah, " Kinnar said, snapping back to reality. "she told me she couldn't because she was too busy to train. " Kinnar confirmed.
"Exactly. Well, that wasn't really true." Jes responded.
Jes kept looking straight at Kinnar. It took a moment for Kinnar to reach a conclusion but after a few seconds he said: "You mean she didn't want to race because her Jedi powers or something?" Kinnar asked.
"Something like that. " Jes explained, "I think she's not sure her Jedi reflexes would make her a better swoop racer. But I think she's afraid that if she'd win, she'd never know if she won fairly. Especially when she couldn't tell anyone about it. It wouldn't have been fair to begin with. She was really upset about it because she loves to race. "
Jes had always thought Kinnar was a smart kid. Much brighter than the average farm kid here. Right now he confirmed this by seeing straight to the core and asking the right question instead of dwelling on everything he just heard.
"If it was so important to keep this a secret, why tell me all this now?" Kinnar asked.
"Well, carrying secrets around weighs down on people. You have to lie to everyone, all the time. Even people you hold dear. Sometimes to protect them. Marin was having a harder and harder time with it. I could see it. I figured that if she trusts you, kid, she could really use a friend right now."
At that point Art walked back into the room.
"Hey, I contacted a buddy of mine who works security for some of the companies in town. He said he saw a few unmarked black speeders move into the garage of the spaceport communications building. He also saw that armed guards had been stationed around all of the entrances a few minutes later. "
"It must be where they took her."
It also makes the case that she's still alive more plausible, but Jes kept that one for himself.
"Yes, but there's more. I also called Jimms, he works traffic control at the spaceport." Art continued. "I asked him if any ships had left the surface in the past half hour. He said that no ships had left. "
"So she must still be here. " Jes concluded.
"My thoughts exactly, but hear this, he had just gotten orders to cancel all flights, inbound and outbound. And they had to clear all landing pads within the next three hours. "
"Damn. That must be when the pickup arrives. Imperial reinforcements too probably. " Jes said. "We have to act fast."