Location: Coruscant
"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Growled Yaqeel Saav'etu, as the wind whipped past her, forcing her eyes to narrow to slits. The Bothan Jedi had been in some sticky situations in the past. Hence the "Bad Feeling". It was experience. And her experience told her, that those other Jedi better get the Kriff back in a hurry.
She had understood why they had to go. 15 minutes earlier, she had be strolling the halls of the Jedi temple when, suddenly, she was pulled along by the diminutive Tekli to the nearest hanger bay. By the time they had reached the bay, there were 5 of them, and from the sound of it, they were going to need every one.
GA Security, in concert with the Department of Health and Medicine had been transporting 15 tons of Ryll spice from the spaceport to DHM headquarters, when the plan was vaped to dust.
The Galactic Alliance (like the New Republic before it, and Like the Empire before it) claimed federal control over all medicinal Narcotics. Since Lando's "Cold War" with the GA, Glitter-Stim shipments from Kessel had all but ceased. This left the government with no choice but to turn to Ryloth for help. The Ryll "spice" from Ryloth, was plentiful, yet inferior to Glitter-Stim. It took double the Ryll, to equal the pain killing effect of Spice from Kessel. This created 2 problems.
1) It was hard to transport such large amounts of spice unnoticed.
2) The blackmarket's need for spice had skyrocketed as well, and dealers would need to get their hands on double the amount of Ryll to equal the high from Glitter-Stim.
For spice dealers on Coruscant, that would usually translate into multiple strikes on small supplies in order to build up their own stock; clinics, pharmacies, hospital warehouses.
But there was nothing usual about crime on Coruscant the last few days. In fact, across the galaxy, the floodgates of organized crime had burst open. Black Sun. The Hutts. Pirates. Mando's. There was no single large incident. It was more like a thousand small fires that had sprung up everywhere. Because of that, the Jedi had become spread thin.
That's why, when the call for help had come in, Tekli (who rarely went out on non medical mission in the field anymore) had been the Master to answer it.
It didn't take long for the Jedi task force to catch up with the commotion. The large armoured cargo speeder had been hijacked from GS personnel, right at the landing pad. Over 20 thugs, had taken control of titanic land speeder, and they had nothing quite as pesky as conscience to prevent them from being ruthless and despicable. They had used gas grenades and stun bolts to neutralize the guards, so as not to damage the cargo or the navigational instruments. The unconscious bodies of those guards, were heartlessly tossed out viewports and hatches, leaving them to plummet to their deaths. The officer's riding in the 6 security speeders in pursuit, could do nothing but watch the sleemos kill their friends and coworkers.
There would be no time to mourn. Within seconds, several hijackers had taken up position on top of the cargo hauler. Each one of them had brought aboard a tripod mounted heavy blaster cannon, and those cannons where now raining down a hail of glowing death, at the pursuing vehicles.Vehicles that had no shields, and very little armour.
They had a top mounted pulse canon, but against an armoured transport, it was like shooting a spit ball at a rancor. The security speeders switched to evasive manoeuvres, but there where just too many incoming blots. With a loud cracking "BOOM", one of the pursuing craft gave out under the great onslaught. Tongues of flame came bursting out of each view port, as the doomed craft plummeted out of sight. A few moments later they got another one, then another, and another. Only two left. The guards in the remaining 2 speeders had no choice but to...
The Jedi had arrived. 3 on Speeder bikes, and 2 in a small two seater craft.
The hijackers knew they were borked. 5 Jedi? No way! They had to think of something.
"Collateral!" A large man behind a mounted canon bellowed to his fellow gunners. They all knew what he ment
Immediately one of the spice runners trained his canon on a nearby sky-tower and open fired, ripping apart a durasteel wall in a burst of flame and smoke. His focus was so trained on the task of blowing holes in sky-towers, that he failed to notice the missile hurtling towards him, until it was too late. Technically, it wasn't a missile, just a riderless speeder-bike that came barrel rolling straight for the gunner. In a flash, the cannon and the man behind it were gone.
The destroyed bike's owner landed, a heartbeat later, in a sleek combat crouch. Yaqeel, needed no time to assess the situation or formulate a plan of attack. In typical Jedi Fashion, she had leapt into the fray, and she knew... She knew! That the force was her ally!
Dodging canon bolts the size of head, she made her way to the nearest gunner and tossed her golden blade toward her target. The canon exploded sending it's operator flying back in a smoking heap. The Quarren had lasted a total of 4 seconds against her, but it was enough to distract her. The Iktotchi, just ahead of her, used those 4 seconds to commit a diabolical act: He locked his targeting reticle on a passing air speeder populated by a family of Sullustans, and fired.
It only took one shot from the over-powered weapon to disintegrate most of the speeders engine as well as the adjoining repulser generator. The craft dropped like a mynock with clipped wings. Without hesitation, the Jedi still at the controls of their own speeders, dived toward the victims of the spicers new maximum collateral tactic.
So there, stood Yaqeel, all alone; a sliver of light, surrounded on all sides by the evil dark. She was determined to transform herself from a sliver to a supernova!
The confidence of the gunners rose considerably, once the bulk of the jedi force had departed to rescue the pathetic creatures in the runaway speeder. But increased confidence would not be enough to stop her. The 5 remaining gunners took aim at the one Jedi, and fired!
Deflecting blaster bolts with a lightsaber was one thing. Deflecting heavy canon bolts with that same lightsaber was an entirely different matter. The lightsaber did nothing to absorb the impact force of a particular bolt. The impact force from a heavy cannon was akin to being struck by a runaway bantha. She was able to withstand the first volley, but with little grace or control. They fired and fired, lighting up the space around the Jedi until she was no longer visible through the sparks and smoke.
"Hold Fire! Hold Fire!" A man called out "I think we got her!" They stopped firing. Immediately the smoke was blown away by the wind whipping by revealing...
Nothing!
"Did she fall?" Someone called out nervously...
"No. But thank you for the concern." A voice growled behind them. While they where turning around to confirm their worst fear, she struck.
She shoved out with her right hand throwing one of the spicers off in to oblivion. She did the same with her left hand sending another one to join his companion. Next she lept forward and with a powerful overswing, she introduced her glowing golden blade to the top of the man's scalp, slicing him in half. 3 left. By this point the 3 remaining gunners had turned to see this new threat, but their mounted cannons were still facing the opposite direction. As they began to swing their canons around, she was on the forth one, impaling him through the abdomen.
The last gunner, the Iktotchi, was able to get her in the crosshairs. He fired.
She braced herself, with a wide stance and her lightsaber gripped hard in both hands. She was able to absorb the impact from the massive bolt sending it right into the Canon that fired it. The mounted weapon erupted in an orange fire ball, sending it's operator flying backwards. He was moaning, missing a horn and his clothing was somewhat singed, but he would live.
Or would he? She stalked toward the lone survivor of what constituted the hijacked hauler's roof crew. As she walked, she allowed her anger and hate to build and fester. That piece of scum had fired on an innocent family, without regret or remorse! He deserved the same.
She stood over the Iktotchi, and uttered the last words he would ever hear: "The galaxy is better off without you!" She raised her blade, ready for the kill, as she looked down at the crumpled wreck before her.
Then suddenly, two large ethereal feet appeared on either side of the downed spicer. She slowly pulled up her gaze. The feet were attach to two strong legs that looked more like large tree trunks. The legs held up a massive torso. By the time she had raised her eyes up to observe the head attached to the towering structure, she had known what to expect. Staring back at her, were the kind yet worried eyes of her late friend Bazel Warv; Barv, as he was affectionately known to his friends. Barv had fallen in a spectacular last stand, protecting Allana and Leia Solo. Everyone recognized what a wonderful Jedi he was. Everyone except for Barv himself. He was so patient and kind and just plain good. Things that Yaqeel had always struggled with. She was hot tempered, and, on occasion, could be petty. She had always counted on Barv to keep her anchored to the light. With his passing, she not only had to deal with loosing a great friend, but... But she had to deal with loosing the best part of herself.
No. Barv was still with her. As long as the force lived, Barv lived, and she would not let him down; not ever! She was determined to stay in the light... For Barv!
She reached out to touch the end of his nose, and he just smiled and dissolved into thin air. She smiled in response. Without saying a single word, he had given her what she need, just as he had, so many times, in life.
Looking down at the pitiful criminal cowering before her, she brought her lightsaber down on him. At the last minute, she deactivated the deadly blade. With a follow through movement she brought the fist holding the lightsaber down on the Iktotchi's jaw, knocking him out cold
"That was for you Barv." Yaqeel whispered with a low purr.
She went to turn back toward the topside hatch, when she was struck!
In that moment her brain could only interpret the feeling of impact. It was everywhere and nowhere. It made her bones feel like they where rattling out of her body. She knew it wasn't a blaster bolt. It wasn't a stun bolt. It was... a net; a stun-net. The shock just kept comming, breaking her concentration enough to preclude any use of the force, or her muscles for that matter.
While she was busy finishing off the gunners, some of the hijackers inside the cargo speeder had come up through the hatch. One of them held a rifle-like apparatus tethered to the net that was delivering the debilitating shocks to the helpless Jedi. A rough looking human woman, walked up to the net and said:
"Close Jedi! But not close enough."
With that she raised a particularity nasty looking disrupter to point directly at Yaqeels head. Then there was a flash. The woman tilted her head downward to observe the smoking hole that had suddenly appeared in her chest. She crumpled down in a heap. The others soon followed her.
With that, the constant shock from the net stopped, allowing Yaqeel to observe her surroundings. It was difficult to lock onto individual sounds, with the wind blowing hard as the laarge cargo hauler barreled through the sky lanes, but she swore she could hear the sound of boots running toward her. She raised her head up and saw the unbelievably beautiful sight of 4 G.A.S officers running toward her!
While the Jedi was distracting the hijackers, the two security speeders were able to reengage pursuit, and land on top of the armoured hauler.
"Don't worry Jedi, we are going to get you out of there!" The officer who said those words, pulled out a vibroblade, and proceeded to slice through a meter of netting. 2 other officers, helped Yaqeel to he feet and pulled the netting off her.
"Are you Ok Ma'am? Do you need medical assistance?"
This new camaraderie shared between the Jedi and GA personal was nice. Yaqeel could remember, not too long ago, when she viewed them as the enemy and vice-versa. This… She could get used to this.
"I'll … I'll be fine… Corporal!" She said while gasping for breath. "Thank you."
"No. Thank you Ma'am. You… You were incredible.
"Well, We're not out of this yet. We still got to take control of the cockpit and…" her words were cut off by a Wookiee roar of greetings, combined with the thump of Lowbacca landing on the deck.
The Wookiee headed toward the hatch with the security team in tow. 2 minutes later it was all over.
The giant armoured speeder was once more under GA control, the hijackers that survived were in custody, and several Tonnes of much needed Ryll, was making it's way to medical storage.
20 minutes after that, the weary Jedi force was back at the temple's hanger bay. Looking around, they noticed that they were not alone. They observed a flurry of action taking place. Some Jedi were rushing to land speeders or StealthXs to dive head first into some kind of crisis.
Others were, like them, just landing from a recently resolved crises. Everyone was too busy to recognize the absurdity of the scene. Everyone except for Tekli. In a single moment of clarity, she could see the big picture.
"What the Kriff is going on?" She thought to herself.