Wrong Place, Right Time
Ch. 41
Manhunt
Pov: Aaron
As we rushed through the door, I turned to see the killers make a turn down an alleyway.
I refused to let them out of my sight. The pair of us followed them down every alleyway that they took, every flight of stairs that they went up. They were running, taking whatever victims they had with them.
R2 was making use of something I didn't know he had, thrusters. Whenever we went up in elevation or down he would use them to avoid any sets of stairs. Perhaps you didn't use it before because he has limited use of it and saves it for emergencies. Either way, I was thankful that he had them, cuz I wasn't going to spend time trying to get him up every flight of steps.
I used my blaster to ward them to run with each chance I had to fire. Though they always had enough time to take cover around a corner. It seemed the distance needed to be shorter for any real damage done.
About a few minutes in the chase, I got my first real chance. As one started to lag behind, he turned to fire at me. I dove down forward and fired a couple of blasts right in his chest. Would have been three had my blaster not ran out right then.
Still, it was enough to take him down. I threw away the used up blaster and grabbed the one from the dead kidnaper. It was about the same, except this pistol had a scope. I didn't know why, but it was the least of my concerns right now.
Right then my sprinting energy was beginning to run out, and the perpetrators were gaining a lead. Not to mention that swan dive did nothing to help me back there. All the same, I didn't want to take the chance of getting shot in an exposed part of my legs. The armor after all wasn't all encompassing.
With nothing better planned I continued my sprint, now with slight pain.
Then I thought occurred to me,
"Hey Artoo, do you have any idea where they may be going?"
All I got was a series of whistles.
Right language barrier. Now if they're not going by speeder, what are they going by?
I had to ask myself what else did they have to transport on this world?
Starships? Nah, same deal. Bus? Too small for their number. Train?
Looking above, I had my answer. I saw a sign that I briefly had a moment of translation for the writing.
Train Stop
So close? Already?! I need more time!
As I got closer down the alley, I heard more blaster fire. More screams. The uproar itself stopped both myself and the droid in its tracks for a moment. We looked at each other with new determination,
"Come on!"
But right before we rounded the corner, a huge crowd of people started running in the opposite direction in our way. While everyone was shouting, some could be made out from the mess.
"Run!"
"Call Security!"
"Help!"
With no time to really think about it, I raised my blaster in the air and motioned for Artoo to get behind me. I tried shouting to the mob heading towards us, "Get out of the way!"
The crowd moved past but still ran into my body. After a few moments the waves of people were done, leaving me with sore sides and an intact droid.
No time to spare, the pair of us rushed to the station.
As we rounded the corner, I could see most of the members had already boarded the train. Only a few people still needed to get on. I opened fire on them with my blaster. One more went to the train while the other three rushed to cover around some pillars. That was the signal that I need to get a defense of my own, and fast. I took cover behind a column of my own, whereas the droid went around the perimeter going somewhere. I had to have faith that Artoo knew what he was doing.
"Come out and fight, Mando!"
It was a conundrum, either I stayed safe behind cover and the criminals escaped, or I put my armor to the test once more. I chose the latter. After all, it saved me back at the restaurant.
Leaving my spot, I turned to face the direction of the shooters. I shouted, angry at all they had done in this short amount of time, "HOW ABOUT YOU COME OUT HERE AND GET IT?!"
For a few moments nothing happened, then one took a shot and landed a bolt on my chest. The impact was like a punch.
Talking it in, I rushed to close the distance. I jumped forward once more, and turned my back to fire at the thugs. I fired off a few rounds at first, each missed. This proved to be more of a grave miscalculation on my part as they fired at me, hitting me more across the body. A desire to cradle my flesh grew, but I powered through it. I kept up my shots and managed to hit one in the neck.
He fell forward flat and scared his two remaining "friends." Both ran for new cover. I fired some more, hitting one in the back. As the pressure grew, the criminal decided he couldn't escape in time and fired back at me as I tried sitting up. His aim was starting to get worse as bolts flew past me. I tossed my blaster and finally got up to run at the man.
As I got close, he dropped his weapon accidentally and attempted to use his hands to keep me away. It was no use as I quickly overpowered him and grabbed his left sleeve and pulled him in for a head butt.
Hit him with enough force to make him tumble to the ground, but I wasn't done with him. Only I wanted answers. I pressed the blade I had with me up to his neck.
"Where are they heading!"
The man fumbled with his speech, "I c-can't say… he'll kill me!"
"Who?! That guy in the duster?! He's on that train, he can't hurt you!"
"No! I can't say anything about-!"
An explosion of blood happened where the man's head used to be. Its remains blanketed my armor in a blink of an eye. Running down like a river delta…
Slowly my hands lost their strength and loosed the headless man in front of me, along with the sword both fell to the ground.
The sound of the train starting didn't even pull my attention from this mess. Instead, my back soon found itself on a column and looked at where that man's head used to be…
I made a mistake…
Now I was lost to everything. Alone…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Wait!"
"That's my brother!"
Voices entered my ears, the first one wasn't familiar, the second one was.
Brother?
I soon felt a hand on my shoulder, it shook slightly, and built up until I knew where I was.
"Aaron! What happened!"
My head turned up to see a sight. My sister. She had the same outfit on as this morning, only now her face was marred with some tears.
Jo said nothing more and pulled me into a hug. One hand slowly reciprocated her actions, pulling her closer. It helped, if only a little.
Remembering where I was currently, I spoke softly, "His head… it just blew up…"
Instead of Jo, the stranger I just noticed spoke up with a sudden gasp.
"You mean him?"
The stranger was a girl, younger than Padmé by my estimate, and had bluish skin with white/purple hair.
Jo almost sat up to turn around but I stopped her, "Don't look, ok?"
"...Ok."
As I let her go while she backed off, I sat up and rushed to a nearby bid and dumped the contents on top of where the head used to be.
Jo turned around to look confused along with the stranger.
"You don't need to see that, Jo… Not yet."
"Jo! Riyo! Any luck!"
Behind them around the corner came the Naboo senator and a creature I was not familiar with. A reptile or amphibian, I couldn't tell. He had two ears like dragon wings that draped behind his head like hair, while his head reminded me of a dinosaur.
The creature hesitated when he saw me, but followed behind. Most likely my armor set off some alarm bells in people's minds, criminal or not.
"Whosa is dis?"
"This is my brother, Aaron."
The blue girl spoke nervously, "You didn't say he was a Mandalorian."
I answered for myself, "I just walked into it, didn't seek out to be one. But that doesn't matter! We got a problem! They-!"
Jo stopped me quickly, "We know about Anakin and the Chancellor."
I sighed as I looked at the empty set of tracks, "And they're probably who knows where now…"
It seemed like all was lost, this Doctor would have new victims in his endless tirade of experimentation or whatever he does… That was until a sharp whistle broke the air.
Padmé shouted to the little droid.
"Artoo!"
She ran up to check on him while the droid went chirping away.
"Really?! You did that?"
The reptile thing spoke up, "What did hesa say?"
"He couldn't stop the train from here, so he re-directed their route and sent them to the furthest station on this circuit. He doesn't know if there is enough security that can stop them in time, and he tried getting in contact with security again, but couldn't. If we're going to stop them, he needs to get into the front car."
I asked the critical question "How long till they get there?"
The droid whistled, Padmé answered, "Twenty minutes."
I swallowed some saliva that had built up in my mouth before I spoke, "Then we got twenty minutes to catch up!… Please tell me you got here on speeders."
She nodded, "Two of them, I'll fly one!"
The senator looked to the Blue one and got a response from her albeit apprehensively, "I can fly the other one."
I looked at Jo and the reptile dino, hoping he was at least blaster trained with the one he held.
"Then Jo and your friend here can take one while Artoo and I will be in the other."
My sister soon looked disheartened, "But-t, Aaron-."
"Jo, it's better if we pair up separately. They're expecting me cus I got the armor. Worst case scenario, I'll take the brunt force of the action if they rush me. What we need to do is cut them off in a surprise pincer attack so they can't run. They aren't expecting you two.
"And Artoo can't fight like me. I'm going to make sure he gets in that car and pushes forward on my own. If not, I'll bunker down and get their attention."
Each of us looked at each other, each one knowing our roles. Hoping that we can pull it off. Jo was visibly worried alongside the blue woman, at the same time accepting the plan.
I bent down to pick up the sword I had dropped.
I just now noticed a trigger on the hilt as a hum resonated along the edge of the blade. Smiling under my helmet. I turned to the group again.
"Now, either of you got a spare blaster?"
End Chapter