Double Tap

[Leah Reach]

Leah sat in her personal interceptor. One of the fastest vessels in the Galactic Alliance, retrofitted with military-grade deflector shields and a power core to ensure maximum capacity, cannons stronger than even the Starbird’s. The Nightingale was a starfighter fit for a Jedi Master. Fit for the operation she now embarked upon with Asha. A fellow rebel, her promising student, a close friend. Their relationship had a rocky start but had unexpectedly taken root and blossomed into something new. Nothing syrupy but strong, like any bond between master and apprentice. Together, they stood against the Empire. Together, they would make certain Imperial Hutta was free of their invasive presence.

After the first strikes on Nar Shaddaa, where Asha and Leah destroyed the Network Access and therefore the HoloNet, plunging the entire Imperial province into chaos, the Empire had gone great lengths attempting to repair it. Demanding answers and knowing constant communication was vital to regaining control, the Imperial Republica was desperate to bring the HoloNet back online. The Galactic Alliance could not afford that to happen. The Jedi Master could not let it be. So, she decided it was high time to make another strike. Against the Network Access, before the Empire revived it. Although other rebels moved to blow up tunnels or corridors leading to the central base, Leah wanted to try something else. She wanted to hit from above.

It was safer that way. Faster. They could dive in, take out a few routes or convoys digging through, then head out. From the skies, they also had a significant vantage point to see and examine the Network Access and its surrounding area. The rest of the city likewise made welcome cover. The only problem was the demand to be clear and precise. They were no bombers. However, that wasn’t the point. Leah and her student had not arrived to Nar Shaddaa to bomb the whole Network Access, or the city district for that matter. If they could have, they would have. Instead, they aimed to shut down any Imperial convoys trying to reach it, in addition to particular parts of the facility. With enough runs, or missile hits, it could just do the job.

Reaching in orbit above the planet, she reached out to Asha over her comms. “Take a deep breath. We’re about to dive in.”

@Malon

 

[Asha]

Asha found that she liked the HB1 Hawk Bat. It wasn't her Dark Sister, but she liked how responsive the craft was in comparison, even if its lack of shields made her understandably nervous. She swung in alongside Leah and restrained a harsh laugh when the woman's voice came over her comm-headset. "I didn't know strafing runs fell under the purview of a Jedi Knight," Asha remarked sarcastically. "Or is this also part of my training?"

Asha really didn't mind either way. As an insurgent on Ifrane, she had preformed her fair share of strafing runs. But she enjoyed pulling Leah's leg. Someone had to—the older Jedi Master always acted as though the world was resting on her shoulders. She kept her thoughts to herself and rarely, if ever, shared her burdens. So, Asha took it upon herself to keep a cheery and aloof disposition whenever she was around the older woman. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but, deep down, Asha knew Leah appreciated her efforts.

Up ahead, Asha spotted some hover-train tunnels and turbolift tracks that were wide enough to be viable targets. The more entrances to Network Access that they shut off, the more the Sith's efforts in the region would be frustrated. Asha brought up her targeting computer, which she used to paint two green boxes over the targets. When she came into range, these boxes would turn red and she'd vaporize them on her attack run. In the meantime, she switched on her comm and transmitted over to Leah.

"Deep breaths, Master," she said, throwing Leah's words back at her with a cheeky grin. "This is where the fun begins." @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

“Part of both.” She answered against Asha’s sarcastic remark. “And because we’re as part of this Alliance as anyone else.” She grinned. The Jedi Master may have originated with the Order, her body may have been trained to be a Jedi, but her heart and soul belonged to the Rebellion. In reality, she served the Alliance more than she did the Order. As a rebel ambassador and advisor, she was far more instrumental in the expansion of rebel assets rather than Jedi students. While she may have excelled there, that did not mean she lacked in the other. Asha was a testament to her continued dedication between both the Alliance and the Jedi. Soon, after her training and trials were complete, the young woman would become a Jedi Knight, and Leah’s duty would be done.

But their relationship? That would push on for as long it could. Just because she was a student and Leah the teacher did not mean Asha could pass the class and move on. They were master and apprentice. Women, friends, with the same cause, purpose and desire for peace. Just because Asha might develop into a Knight didn’t mean her relationship with her Master would be over. No matter what happened, no matter what the Empire threw their way, they would be together. Like it was between Wyck and Imani, like any other master and apprentice from before and thereafter. Leah only hoped that relationship would not be cut off by some unexpected variable. For instance, the enemy starfighter coasting toward her flank.

“And if we’re not careful, it’s where we will end. Just be—“ Light flickered out of the corner of her eye. The fighter unleashed a volley of shots toward her way. Whatever hope she had to approach the target railway had ended in a mediocre failure. Several shots raked against her shields. Alarms blared. While the hits had little effect to the overall state of her vessel, continued fire would ultimately kill her shields and crash her ship. And no way did Leah want to complete the mission on foot. Not with so many guards littering the surrounding area. The risk was too much. At best, she needed to maneuver through the cityscape, evade the enemy fighter looking to get on her tail and take them down. Then she could worry about the Network Access.

“Enemy contact.” She said over her comms, veering her ship to the side to avoid further attacks. The enemy quickly coasted around to pursue. With any attempt to stealthily strike the railway out of the question, it was time for her to go all out. Which was hard, considering the position she was now in. Leah hoped Asha could do something about it, either by lending a hand or making sure the objective was completed.

@Malon (DICE)

 

[Asha]

Mood Music

Asha saw that her Master was in trouble and didn't hesitate in abandoning her current run-target to help. The young woman and Jedi Padawan remembered her training, all those hours of lessons Leah had given her, fell into the Force, punched the break pedal on her starfighter, and then rolled behind the enemy fighter that was harassing her Master. The target box on her main display surrounded the enemy fighter and began to blink red. Asha squeezed on the trigger and red lasers lanced out, striking the enemy fighter just above it's engine.

The enemy fighter sputtered and spewed smoke from its tail; but, soon, it began to lose altitude and veered away to crash somewhere in the city below. Asha smirked as the plume of smoke that indicated the fighter's explosion below rose up from the polluted undercity. She then opened her comm channel to her Master's ship and was certain that Leah could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Come on, Master," she teased, "you can't go out to a flea-bite like that. Use the Force."

Asha rolled her ship to starboard and stepped on the accelerator pedal so that her ship sped ahead and kept pace directly next to Leah's own starfighter. Together, they wouldn't be such an easy target for the next group of enemies, should they come. With Leah's shields down, she needed all of the cover that she could get. Asha hoped to provide that cover, the Force willing.

And that moment came quickly. Two airspeeders approached on either side of the Jedi starfighters. Each had a driver and three passengers... and those three passengers were carrying heavy blaster rifles. Asha thought quickly and pushed her shields to starboard in anticipation of an attack. She hoped her Master had a better plan. "I really hate this planet," she uttered into her headset. @Deviant​

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[Leah Reach]

Her shields were hit hard, and were already brought down by the shots of the enemy fighter. Leah was caught by surprise, but this time, she would make sure it never happened again. At least, if she made it out of the attacks alive. Fortunately, she was not alone through it all. Asha managed to come in at the last moment, twirling her ship around, circling behind the enemy vessel and striking them barely above the engine. The interceptor hissed and Leah could immediately tell they were going down for the count. All thanks to the young woman she brought along with her. She wondered if she had brought another rebel if she would still be flying about. Then again, with Greybok, she would have never had to worry in the first place.

But the Rebel General was elsewhere. Doing whatever he needed to do. The Alliance needed him, on wayward worlds such as Kashyyyk or in other parts of Imperial Hutta begging for aid. Slaves to free, camps to liberate, Sith to smash. The usual, she imagined, for the Wookiee. Not that she wished she was with Greybok over Asha. The Jedi Master was every bit glad to have her along for the ride, especially if it meant she could prove her value to the Rebellion further, and learn a thing or two about piloting. Not that she needed serious training. Just somewhere to get her feet wet now that she was no longer bound to only Ifrane. However, Leah was not making much of a first impression. And it was going to get any better the longer they went.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks!” She answered Asha, a weak excuse but one regardless. Meanwhile, two airspeeders chock-full of enemies tried to corner the pair as they descended farther into the city. While she weaved between buildings, sailing over shocked civilians or even emboldened revolutionaries, Leah made the first move against one of the speeders. A mistake on her part. Lured in, she received several shots along the bottom of her ship. It was where the armor was strongest and least likely to explode into a ball of fire, but alarms blared. Nothing critical but some internal systems were damaged. If she so much as received another hit to that area, or elsewhere around it, Leah would be looking at a crash down into the city.

She could not afford to take that route. Well, she could, but she sure as hell didn’t want to strike the railways into the Network Access on foot. And alone. It was too risky. As she veered her fighter away from continued fire, the Jedi Master murmured back to her student. “Damn right.”

@Malon

 

[Asha]

Asha was in a predicament. Her position relative to her Master's ship meant that, if she rolled to avoid the shots coming towards her starboard side, they would hit her Master's ship instead. Fortunately, she had another plan in mind. Her shields were already pushed to starboard, meaning any impact there would have negligible effects on the craft itself.

Pulling the stick to the right, Asha's starfighter veered to starboard and crashed into the side of the air speeder. The jolt was so violent that the men standing—without any sort of straps to keep them inside—were thrown off the edge and into the city below. The driver, on the other hand, veered off course and crashed into a holo-traffic sign. Meanwhile, Asha adjusted her ship's course, slipping behind both Leah and the other air speeder. Her goal was, of course, to line up a shot with her Master's assailants.

She squeezed the triggers on her weapons and lit the skylanes up with red laser fire. The speeder exploded in a plume of super-heated gas and flames. "I believe that's two drinks you owe me when we get back to base, now, Master," the Jedi Padawan said cheekily into her headset. Then she watched as the flaming ball she had just created crashed into one of the tunnels below them, collapsing it. Asha smirked and added, "Better make that three."

There were still more tunnels to collapse, so Asha pulled up on her stick and sent the craft into a loop that would turn it around towards their original destination and targets. She had to admit, she was getting better at this piloting thing. Perhaps she would consider helping out more with the starfighter corps in the future. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

It went without saying that Leah was having a miserable start. She arrived to the Network Access on Nar Shaddaa expecting another resounding success but instead received a cold reception. The Empire was not at all pleased with her return. From the unexpected interceptor to the oncoming speeders, the Jedi Master was hit hard. One might assume Imperial resistance against the rebels was natural, but Asha was living proof against that. She was doing perfectly fine, receiving little to no hits, and already had taken down the enemy fighter and both speeders, saving Leah’s ass more than once over the span of a single minute. The Jedi couldn’t believe what she was seeing— and enduring. Alarms continue to sound. Sparks flew. Now? Asha was demanding drinks once they were done. Unbelievable.

“I thought I would have taught you better than that, Asha!” She said, trying to lecture her in a sad attempt to escape the subject. Except, there was no escaping the truth. Her student had proved to be the better pilot, and Leah was indebted to the young woman for it. The least she could do was pay for a few rounds, else she would continue to dangle this mission over her head for years. Then again, the Jedi Master had a feeling she would still do just that regardless of how many drinks she bought. Asha was not going to live this down. Leah could already imagine the young woman telling half the Alliance. She groaned at the thought, but ultimately gave in, and after a long pause, finally answered, “Fine, but only three!”

She banked her ship down, hoping to beat Asha to the punch with one of the railways. The engine whirred furiously. Her wings shuddered. The Nightingale was in pretty bad condition and she wasn’t sure if she could make it back to the rendezvous point after the operation was over, but she would be damned if she didn’t see the mission through. The Jedi closed her eyes. Just as Asha told her seconds earlier, Leah pooled together her strength in the Force. As he interceptor moved ever closer to the enemy route, almost too close, her eyes shot open. Fingers pressed on the trigger. Another hand crashed into a different set of controls. Her fighter lit up, firing concussive missiles and raining a tempest of laser fire. "Bombs away!"

Although there was no way she could destroy the railway in one foul swoop, she sure as hell could leave a mark. Given several weak points along the track line, they could as well collapse the whole thing, cutting the Imperials off from yet another route into the Network Access. Already, Leah could see her shots come into fruition. Explosions tore into the line. Sith flew into the air. A good first run, she had to admit, and a rebound in her luck. No— her faith in the Force.

@Malon (DICE)

 

[Asha]

Asha was still smirking when things finally began to go karking south for her. She primed her concussion missile and lined up a shot with a nearby rocket tram track, which looked to lead directly into the tunnels near Network Access. However, when she pulled the trigger, something went terribly wrong. The weapon misfired, causing an explosion underneath her cockpit that tore her starboard wing clean off. Warning alarms blared loudly, smoke billowed from the missing wing, and Asha's starfighter began to lose altitude.

Still sunken into the Force, Asha reacted fast. She pulled the eject lever next to her seat, which threw the cockpit open and launched her upwards into Nar Shaddaa's air. Wind rushed up to catch her, and she was suddenly aware of the noise as the roar and wailing of nearby speeders and skylanes rushed around her. Remembering her training, Asha gathered the Force to her, allowing it to surround her, and guide her fall. She landed on the back trunk of a passing air speeder. The driver, a rodent-like Chandra Fan, squeaked expletives at her. She ignored the little alien, focused the Force into her feet, and jumped, landing like a cat on the roof of the passing bullet tram.

As she landed, she glanced up in the direction that she fell in time to watch her starfighter explode from a chain malfunction. She hissed and ripped her lightsaber pistol out of its holster with her right hand, then tore her comlink out of her flight suit with her left. She immediately hailed Leah.

"I'm fine, Master," she said, moving immediately to alleviate the Jedi Master's fears. And she was fine. Annoyed, a tad frightened, but fine otherwise. "I'm on top of the tram. If I can't bomb it, I'll just have to find another way to keep this thing from reaching its destination." Her hair whipped violently as the bullet tram made a rather jarring turn, but the Force in Asha's feet kept her rooted in place. "Hopefully your ship has room for two on our way out," she added. Then she flipped up the nozzle of her weapon and ignited her saber. Today was getting more interesting by the second. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Oh, how the tables had turned. One moment, Asha was dangling her luck and piloting skills above her Master’s head like it was nothing. Next moment, her fighter received a sick malfunction and caused a small explosion in the cockpit. While Leah was initially fearful for the young woman, she watched as she ejected out of the vessel and landed on a passing speeder. Her ship burst into flame soon after. Tempted as the Jedi Master was to call karma, she was more concerned about her student’s safety. Thankfully, she received a hailing from her moments later and spotted her small figure on the roof of the tram. “Very clever.” She said back, biting back a smile. Asha may have been met with failure but Leah was proud to see the Jedi rebound in spite of such odds.

Red lights flickered. Alarms echoed longer than they should. The rebel ambassador knew she could not keep her starfighter in the air for long, especially after losing her shields and receiving the superficial hit on the bottom of her hull. With Asha likewise on the tram they were meant to destroy, she could not risk another bombing run else her Padawan was caught in the crossfire. The best she could do was land on a nearby landing platform, a stopping point for the tram to unload the materials and resources needed to rebuild the Network Access and restore the HoloNet. With her superior speed, Leah rushed past the train and toward the platform at the end of the tracks. She had to make it. While the job was to prevent the tram from reaching its destination, Leah wondered: what if there was no destination to reach?

A smile danced across her lips. Perhaps the train could make it, and from there, they could destroy the entire depot and not only collapse the route but the endpoint too. Of course, that required a clean landing first. Several soldiers on the expanse already spotted her approach and began to fire aimlessly at her fighter. While they were, for the most part, ineffective against the armor plating, it didn’t mean they were without damage. Under her hull, hit from before, a stray shot popped an exposed pipe. Leah began to lose altitude faster than expected, but with the Force on her side, she made certain to use that to her advantage. Twirling her controls just before she reached the platform, the interceptor smacked and slid against the landing pad.

Sparks flew. The ship screamed against the metal. However, it went far better than expected. Her wings slammed into a number of the guards, sending them flying into the air like rag dolls. Rather than wait around for a stop, the Jedi Master opened her cockpit, flipped into the air and activated her lightsaber. Blue light illuminated the night. Before the guards could so much as fire, she rolled onto the ground and sliced through all of their blasters. As she rose back to her full height, flicking her hair out of her face, Leah smiled. “You don’t mind if I park here?” All the men looked at one another, stunned. “Great!” With an open hand, she Force pushed the guards away, knocking them down for the count.

Leah may have had a rough start, but she was having one hell of a finish.

@Malon

 

[Asha]

However, Asha was not having her Master's luck. Thugs had emerged from the bullet tram, using mag-boots to stay fixed to the top of the train. Red lasers flew from the barrels of their blasters. Her green blade flashed as she deflected the shots, but the momentary lapse in her focus cost her the Force-grip she had on the train. The wind alone nearly sent her plummeting into the city below, but she managed to grab on to a handrail on the side of the tram before she could fall and hold on for dear life.

The brief flirtation with death cost her something else: her comlink, which fell freely into the city below. Asha was having to repeat a mantra through her gritted teeth in order to remain calm. Frustration and anger were bubbling just beneath the surface, but her Jedi training was there to guide her. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me, she told herself. As far as calming mechanisms went, it was far from the best; but it kept her mind on what she was and why she could not allow anger to get the better with her. So, she thought it again. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me.

From this angle, the thugs, of which there must have been about five of them, couldn't make their shot. Their laser bolts screamed passed her harmlessly. Those that got too close, she swatted away with her blaster pistol. Then, slowly, she crawled towards the door to the nearest tram car. Her Master was probably somewhere near the tram landing station, so, while Leah dealt with the tunnel ahead, Asha would find away to get to the control room of the tram, given there wasn't any further setbacks. From there, she could control the whole thing and bring it to a grinding, halting stop. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

With the landing platform cleared and virtually all the guards out of her way, Leah continued onward to the edge and toward the tunnel into the Network Access. While it had already received minor damage from her previously successful strafing run, now that she was on the ground, the Jedi Master could make sure she finished the job. With several charges she plucked out of her interceptor and among the men littered across the pad, she hopped onto the tracks and rushed toward the entrance of the tunnel. In the far distance, through the Force, and given Asha’s coordinates, Leah knew the tram was approaching fast. There was also the thought of more Imperials rushing in. The Jedi had become a fish in a barrel by entering the tunnel, but she hoped she could continue unchallenged.

Which, after several minutes, was exactly what happened. Taking a number of charges and using the Force to lift her body into places usually impossible to reach, Leah primed the explosives on each side of the tunnel. With every passing second, her smile only grew. It couldn’t be luck, she knew, but the whole mission had seriously taken a turn for the better. While her interceptor did receive some damage and it would be a struggle returning home or finding repairs, everything else had gone smoothly. She couldn’t wait to loom that over Asha’s head when they were finished. Especially with her own string of luck spiraling down the drain? She couldn’t wait. Of course, the Jedi Master trusted the young woman would make it off the train in one piece. She had to, else no drinks for her.

Making sure everything was set, Leah hovered off the tracks and waltzed back to her ship. With no Sith or Imperials coming to confront her, likely because they were never warned by her landing or too distracted with Asha, the rebel ambassador slid under her fighter and examined the damage. A few charred marks and a broken pipe, but nothing that meant the ship couldn’t fly. The shields system was fried but as long as they could escape without any enemies on their tail, it wouldn’t be a problem. Even if Asha couldn’t fit in the tight cockpit, Leah could always have her sit out on the wing until they found a safehouse or repair shop around the city. Then, they could go home at last.

@Malon

 

[Asha]

Asha managed to melt a hole through the train car and into one of the forward cabins with her lightsaber. There were train patrons and thugs waiting for her just inside. A half-cocked shot grazed and singed her arm, but she was quick to recover and sliced through her enemies with renewed vigor. She could see through the train viewports that the tram was about to reach its destination, where her Master was. The Jedi Padawan knew she needed to hurry.

She sprang forward and sliced her way into the lead car, where she found a pilot droid in the cockpit. One stab ended the droid, and its loud protests, and then she settled into the pilot's seat. "No wonder they let droids pilot these things," she said bitterly as she scanned the foreign-looking controls. "No one sentient can operate it!"

She pulled what looked like the brake lever. For a moment, she smiled, as she heard the screeching on metal that indicated the brake was working, which was accompanied by the slowing of the tram. ...But then the brake lever snapped and the train quickly began to gain speed. Panicking, Asha sank into the Force once again and wrapped around the front part of the tram. The mental force that slammed into her was like being punched in the gut.

Asha struggled to hold it. Once again, the train screeched and the wheels sparked but the tram had a lot of momentum and she was still but a Padawan in the ways of the Jedi. Nevertheless, the tram did eventually give way and began to slow. By the time it reached the station — reached Leah — it had come to a complete stop. Asha stood from the pilot's seat and slapped the tram's control to the outside intercom. "I hope you saw that, Master, because I am not doing that again."

She sliced the controls to ensure the tram stayed put and then bolted out of the main car in a mad dash for the engine room. When the tunnel ahead collapsed, the controls gone, and the engines dead, all that would be left is for the two Jedi to find some way off this wretched moon; and then, Asha told herself, she was never coming back here ever again. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Leah quickly did her work on her interceptor. With one hand, fueled with the strength of the Force, she bent the charred, broken pipe together to ensure she didn’t leak out fuel or anything else critical to the ship systems. With her lightsaber, she activated it to its lowest setting, turning into what was essentially a glorified blowtorch, and tried to meld pieces back into place. The Jedi Master was no technician, and she was a garbage mechanic, but while she had been training Eisa, the former scavenger had been training her. Not enough to be certain, but enough. Or so the rebel ambassador believed. As she slid out from under the fighter and hopped into the cockpit, she readied the controls. “Here we go.” She whispered, fingers crossed, expecting something to happen. Nothing did.

The engine hummed but fell silent, cut short. The dashboard blinked on and off, still functioning but unable to tell her what the hell was going on. Despite her military-grade power core, her interceptor simply could not compensate for the damages. While it was nothing internal, the ship just refused to rise from the ground. Realizing her luck, or the Force, was drained dry, Leah reached for the ship comms and hailed Asha, who had stopped the train and remained in a close enough distance for contact. “The tunnel is armed and the landing platform is clear.” She paused to let the good news sink in before she dropped the bad. “But there’s just one tiny problem. Ship won’t start up again. Think you can come down and lend me a hand?”

She stepped out of the cockpit but was immediately caught by surprise from a couple of guards surfacing from the opposite end of the depot. Narrowly dodging the bolt but watching it slap into the windshield, she grunted. “Can’t be surprised.” Unholstering her usual weapon, she dived out the interceptor for her Jedi Padawan to take her place and hopefully get it to work. Perhaps with her magic touch. Or perhaps not. Either way, it was better than Leah smacking into the controls expecting something to happen. In the meantime, she could focus on the approaching Imperials and delay them until Asha chalked up another escape plan.

@Malon

 

[Asha]

"The ship won't start." Asha repeated her Master's words out of sheer exasperation; but it wasn't like her situation was any better. She was running for the engine room when she noticed that the thugs who had been chasing her on the roof of the tram had now made it inside. Her lightsaber flashed on and she swatted away their shots. One deflected shot hit a gas line inside the tram, spewing hot gas into the tram car. Asha cursed and added, "Oh, not good!"

She used the Force to pry open the nearest door, then dove through it onto the platform. The explosion the followed as the stupid thugs attempted to shoot at her, but instead inited the gas, blew the tram sky-high. Asha was safe from the worst of it, but some heated shrapnel did catch her across the arm and the cheek, leaving freshly burned cuts in their wake. She grimaced, but at least she now knew that her pursuers were dead.

The Jedi Padawan gave up on the tram engines. With its controls slashed and the tunnel about to blow, engines were useless anyways. Instead, she ran towards her Master in time to see even more reprobates entering the terminal. Spotting a second insurgent, the newcomers began to fire at Asha too, and she was quick to deflect their fire with her lightsaber. Then, she leaped upwards and landed in the cockpit, extinguishing her weapon as she did.

"What did you do to this thing?!" she shouted from inside the cockpit as she began to glance around the smoking controls. She pulled out a panel and found the problem almost at once. "You've got a fried ignition!" Asha called out. As she did, she pulled out more of the tangled web of wiring and put two of them together, sending up a shower of sparks. "I'll have to hotwire it. Give me just a second!" @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Leah made every effort to cover Asha as she tried to work her magic on the ship. It wasn’t their only way out of the Network Access depot or the only ticket off the planet, but it was definitely something the Jedi Master was unwilling to part with so soon. Plus, it was the fastest ship in the sector, if anyone decided to pursue, they could never keep up. Unfortunately, whatever hopes Leah held for her fighter was crushed. Her Padawan did not have much to say, at least anything good, and her heart sank at the thought of abandoning the poor thing. Be that as it may, Asha was still willing to try and fix the mess, lifting her spirit. “I’ll give you more than a second!” She shot back with a growing smile. Her attention turned to the guards and she whispered to herself. “Let’s go.”

Making certain Asha was safe from the shots, Leah charged into the fray. With a twirl and flip, enough to startle and confuse the oncoming Imperials, her lightsaber carved into the small company of men. Tearing through blasters, into hands and wrists, creating fissures in chest plates. She was a whirlpool of attacks. She slammed her heel into the back of one man’s knee. With the Force, they were practically thrown for a loop— literally. Armored face smashing into the ground, Leah leapt over the man and toward the next. They were already stunned enough by her display that they backed up and slipped, collapsing. She kicked them in the face for safe measure.

With a deep sigh, the Jedi turned around to examine the wake of her onslaught. The Imperial reinforcements were decimated, and easily handled. Perhaps her luck was better off without her ship and on the ground, because it seemed that she was doing best when not piloting. Maybe she could leave Asha to it. That is, if she managed to restart the starfighter. “Any luck, Asha?” She called out from the other side of the landing platform, lightsaber deactivated and one hand on her hip. Now that the enemy was handled and the objective virtually complete, all they needed to do was leave, and hopefully by ship. If not, no matter. Leah was ready to hop down into the city to find another means of escape. Better yet, to continue wrecking havoc against Sith forces on the planet.

@Malon (DICE)

 

[Asha]

Asha paid no heed to noise outside. She was focused solely on the task in front of her. More sparks went up. The ship puttered, its computers briefly lit up, then went dark again. She did it again. This time, the spark that went up got her finger, causing her to yelp and wave her hand to dull the sharp pain. But it worked; the ship's computers started up and the craft shook as the engines fired and came online. Smirking, Asha settled into the pilot's seat. "Yep," she said to herself proudly. "I've still got it."

She stuck her head out of the cockpit as the ship began to rise and hover above the ground. "Come on, Master!" she shouted over the roaring engines. "Let's get the hell off this rock!" Leah was all too happy to oblige. It was a tight fit, but Asha made it work. She hit a few switches, lowered the cockpit hatch, and soared away from the landing pad towards the yellow skies. "I hope you don't mind that I'm flying your ship, but," she smirked again, "I'm flying your ship."

The starfighter was in poor shape, but it would at least make it to the rendezvous point. From there, they would be home free, and Nar Shaddaa, likewise, would be that much freer for their... explosive efforts.

The End​