Chapter 41

Gormaanda and her group of slaves approach the bridge of the Profundity. On their sweep of the main deck, they've encountered a few smatterings of disorganized resistance, and they were able to quickly overwhelm those stormtroopers, losing two Kubaz in the process.

But as they turn the corner to the main corridor leading to the bridge, twin pits of boundless dread, deeper than any black hole, fill Gormaanda's stomachs. She sees dozens of troopers, admins, and techs, all armed, all taking cover behind titanium, laser ablative defense panels.

They were ready for them. The resistance fires a stream of lasers that quickly cuts down Claren and the Chiss who was doing her translating. The six remaining slaves take cover, three and three on each side of the corridor. Rohrchun nurses a shot he took to his shoulder across the hallway of certain death.

Gormaanda should have realized they never had a prayer of taking the bridge. Not with just eight slaves. Now six.

She can only hope that Neelaw can arrive quickly with an armed force of equal numbers. And that the armory wasn't recaptured by the Empire since they left it.

And that the Togruta wasn't killed on his way to muster reinforcements in the first place.

From experience, Gormaanda knows you can get lucky once during a battle. Rarely twice, and never three times. She takes a moment to reload her clips. All it would take is for a platoon to flank them on either side of this intersecting path. There is no cover. They're stuck here, waiting to die.

The Twi'lek pirate on her side of the hallway nudges her and hands her a pocket mirror. She takes it and holds it out from her face, getting a look at the opposition she's facing. If this is going to be the end, she wants to take as many of these Imperial bastards to their judgment right alongside her.

Suddenly, Rohrchun shrieks and fires across the hallway. Gormaanda follows the blast across her face and watches it connect with the far wall, as a black boot scrabbles for cover behind the corner to her left. The Empire's trying to flank them.

"Shit! Whoa! Whoa! Don't shoot! I'm on your side!" says the voice from around the bulkhead. Young, male.

Rohrchun howls, unconvinced. Gormaanda calls out, "Who are you?!"

"Kell Roderick! I'm Amara's friend!"

Gormaanda tells Rohrchun not to shoot, and the Wookiee whimpers in protest. "Come on out!"

The pilot sticks his head out low, as though he's on his hands and knees. It looks like Rohrchun's shot singed off the left side of the young man's greasy, out of control mop of hair. Likely an improvement.

Satisfied that he won't be shot, Roderick gets to his feet and trots to Gormaanda. "You guys pinned down?"

"Nothing gets past you. Have you seen any other slaves?"

"Nah, just you guys," Gormaanda knows she must look deflated, and this imperial pilot quickly revises to keep her spirits up. Strange for a human. "But, hey, I'm coming from the lower deck lounges. Not a lot of indentures there in the first place. They might be gathering steam someplace else."

"Or they're all dead."

"Maybe. But you're not dead yet, which means we've still got a shot to get you out of here." He holds up a utility belt with three thermal detonators on it. "I think I can bust their bunker at the bridge, but we gotta make this look good."

"I'm listening."

"I'm gonna toss one of these down the main corridor, but in the opposite direction of the bridge. You guys stay covered, and shoot at the smoke. That's gonna get the bridge guards to hold their fire, they'll think their guys are coming down the main hallway for reinforcements."

"Then you run down there and get behind their cover."

"Right on," Kell smiles. "Can you guys take some shots at me? I mean, miss. Please. Like I said-"

Gormaanda's picking up what this human is putting down. "Make it look good."

"I'm gonna tell them that I need to get to the hangar to fight Slake, and I'll leave these two bad boys behind." He shakes the detonators again. "Big boom, you guys mop up the survivors."

Rohrchun yaps impatiently, and Gormaanda holds up a hand. "How do we know you're not going to tell them how many we are? All they need to do is charge us in this position, and we're finished."

The boy bores through her with his ice blue eyes. Total sincerity. "Look, I know I have this stupid uniform on. But you gotta trust me. I'm all-in for Amara. That means I'm all-in for you too. I've been doing the wrong shit for so long… If I have a chance to change, do the right thing? I gotta take it."

"Okay," Gormaanda says. "I'm deciding to trust you."

"Thank you. I'm gonna yeet this fucking thing now."

"Don't get shot."

Kell winks, "Don't shoot me."

The kid stands up, pulls one of the silver orbs from the stolen belt, arms its timer option, and tosses it from the edge of cover, in the opposite direction of the bridge, just like he said. It's a great throw, bouncing off the wall and rolling an easy fifteen meters after it lands, out of sight of the slaves.

The explosion is huge, deafening everyone and sending a rolling cloud of smoke down the hallway. Kell starts his run, firing his pistol blindly over his shoulder, shouting "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" at the mass of soldiers behind the cover.

It works. Gormaanda hears no fire from the troops. "Hold!" shouts a smattering of stormtroopers, all in that creepy faux-voice generated by their helmets. Obscured by the smoke, Rohrchun takes a few terrible shots at Kell, as does Gormaanda, who makes it look a little better, missing Kell by inches instead of feet.

Once Kell is safe, the imperial troops shots into the corridor, and Rohrchun and Gormaanda take full cover behind the bulkheads. Now to wait for the boom.

Heavy boots clunk down Gormaanda's side of the intersecting hallway, around the corner from where Kell came. Gormaanda's hope collapses. The stormtroopers gathered. It's over.

Gormaanda readies her pistols and nudges the Twi'lek and Kubaz next to her to do the same. This is their last stand. "Go down shooting. Make sure you leave a final shot for yourself if you have to."

Around the corner appears Neelaw, his blue skin standing out immediately against the white walls of the MC90. Behind him are forty alien slaves easy, all different shapes and colors, all armed to the teeth and tusks. Flanking him are the two Kubaz who held the armory.

She tells the Twi'lek next to her to run and find Tegri Kai. They're going to need him at the astrogation panel sooner than she thought. The Twi'lek gives her a thumbs up and sprints down the hallway raising his fist at the reinforcements in triumph. To a person, the new arrivals each return the gesture.

Gormaanda issues a sigh of deep relief. And then she hears the explosion.

The kid did his job.

The screams of the dying Imperial soldiers is all the cue that she, Rohrchun, and Neelaw need. Standing and running, only instinct at the controls, she suddenly finds herself surrounded by her friends, smoke, and fire, charging toward the bridge. Toward home.

Toward justice.