"Stay here," Uriellien ordered the stormtroopers over the klaxon blaring. He set out at a trot down the hallway stationing himself at the end of it behind the corner. There might be a Jedi on his ship, but he'd stop them before they made it to free their compatriots. Peering down the hallway, blaster in his hand, he lay in wait.
Only to hear a clunk and sizzling sound from around the corner. Rounding it, he saw what must have been the Jedi finishing a hole in the door of the room where the prisoners were being held. On the floor were the two stormtroopers that had been guarding the door.
As the Jedi, who had some sort of contraption over his eyes, kicked at the section of door he had cut through, Uriellien aimed and fired at him. With a speed that seemed impossible, the Jedi turned and used his lightsaber to deflect the laser. The shot ricocheted off the lightsaber and came hurtling toward Uriellien's hand where it had come.
Uriellien managed to move just enough that the shot hit the gun and not his hand. The force of the impact caused the gun to fly from grip and skid across the hallway. He hissed as his hand stung.
"Come on!" the Jedi said to those in the cell. "We need to get going."
"Took you long enough," Orrelios said, emerging from the hole. Straims and Berbail climbed out after him, grabbed the pistols on the stormtroopers' holsters, and the four of them began to run down the hallway.
Uriellien scrambled for his blaster as the four of them ran off. They disappeared around a bend as he reached his gun. Picking it up in his still stinging hand, he rushed past the two unconscious stormtroopers and followed the escaping prisoners.
He fired as soon as he turned the corner. Again, the Jedi deflected the shots, but he wasn't as deft while he was moving, and they kept flying wide. The man seemed to know which of them he was going to aim at and his lightsaber was in front of them just in time.
Berbail turned and began firing at him, both of her hands on the pistol. Uriellien ducked against the wall behind a support beam to keep from getting hit. "You'll never get away, Straims," he yelled. "There's too many people on the ship. There is only four of you."
"Stuff it where the sun don't shine!" yelled back Berbail.
Uriellien laughed. "Such unladylike behavior!" He poked his head out from behind the beam and fired again.
He saw they were prying off the grid from one of the ducts in the hallway.
"You won't escape that way," he told him. "Those ducts lead to the outside of the ship."
Straims dived into the hole head first. Berbail got a few more shots off before she followed him. The Jedi covered for Orrelios as the lasat climbed through. Uriellien had to duck back behind the support to keep from getting hit by one of his own blasts.
"Sorry we can't stay," said the Jedi, looking his direction as if he could see through the mask he was wearing. "But I have things to do." With that, he dove into the hole.
Uriellien scrambled to the vent to find it went downward at an angle and was now empty. "Dammit!" he snarled as he grabbed his comlink. "They're in the ductwork," he said.
"Copy that, sir," said the trooper on the other end.
He took a deep breath, trying to catch his temper. He needed to get to Sola and see if she was alright. No, he needed to get to the hanger bays to try and waylay the insurgents. He shook his head. They had too far of a head start, and all the hangers must be swarming with stormtroopers by now. He turned on his heel and headed toward the guest quarters to Sola's room.
When he opened the door, his sister was standing on the other end of the room, staring at it in fright. He hadn't seen that look on her face since the Clone Wars in their childhood.
"Are you alright?" he asked, quickly closing the distance between them and scooping her up his arms.
"I'm alright," she said. Her voice was steady. She looked up at him. "Uri, there was a Jedi on the ship."
"It's being taken care of," he said. "A lone Jedi is no match for an entire star destroyer full of people."
"I thought the Jedi were all gone," she said, her voice finally cracking. "They were evil and all gone."
He squeezed her as his heart tightened. "Evil is never truly gone," he said quietly. "We have to always watch against it." He stroked her hair. It was soft and released the scent that was her. "I would have spared you this knowledge if I could have."
She pushed away from him, he released her slightly, letting her step away but keeping his arms around her. "You knew there were Jedi out there?" she asked.
"It isn't common knowledge," he said. "But there are people who are specially trained to take care of the Jedi we find. You don't need to worry."
She took a deep breath to calm herself. "He called me a Sith," she said. "I've never heard of that before, have you?"
His brows drew together and he frowned. "No," he said. "Perhaps it is a swear word in his own language?"
"His language seemed to be Basic," she pointed out.
"What else did he say to you?"
"That he wasn't here to hurt me." She sighed. "I guess he was just here for the insurgents?"
Uriellien nodded. "He got them out of their cell. But we'll catch them."
As if on cue, his comlink beeped. He brought it to his mouth. "Yes?"
"Sir," said a tentative voice on the other end. "The insurgents escaped."
A blast of anger flared in his chest, where a moment before was only worry. "What do you mean they got off the ship?" Uriellien yelled into his comm. "It was four people! You couldn't stop 4 people?"
"Sir," said the person on the other end, "one of them was a Jedi."
"I don't care if one of them was a blue footed boobie bird!" he yelled. "You had one job. One! Job!"
"I know, sir."
He thrust his comlink in his pocket without answering the trooper on the other end. Sola was looking at him anxiously.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said, straightening his tunic.
"It's alright," she assured him. "It shows you have more channels than just 'charming'."
He smiled, in what he hoped was a charming manner, pleased with the compliment. "Thank you," he said with a deep exhale. "I have to go to the bridge. I want you going home as soon as possible. Coruscant is the safest place in the galaxy at the moment. I will feel more at ease knowing you're there."
She laughed. "That's a change," she said. "Usually you're asking me to stay longer and not go back to Coruscant."
He laughed back. "Everyone can change."