Public The Blockage Runners

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

Jorus looked back and forth between Vetru and the dead trooper, then drew by instinct and fired.

At which point he realized he'd drawn the wrong thing off his belt. A scan dart punched through the other trooper's helmet lens and put him down, not dead but probably wishing he was. Jorus cringed, looking around for the squad's other two troopers. Instinct drove him between the C20's structural elements and cargo container, a narrow fit. He dragged Vetru in there before the troopers could materialize.

There came the sound of several trooper squads converging on the C20 and searching the immediate area. Sandwiched between the C20's hull and cargo pod, he tried to remember how many troopers the earlier scan had revealed. Three four-man squads? Four? So maybe ten to fourteen stormtroopers were milling around out there. Sooner or later they'd find the right nook or cranny to investigate.

The hiding place offered a way out, a shimmy followed by a sprint out the other side of the ship's undercarriage.

"Book it or stay put, kid?"

 

[Vetru]

"Book it or stay put, kid?"

"Run for it," he agreed. Though he wasn't quite as fixed on the route ahead. Lighter and more nimble, his eyes turned upwards. Wedged between ship and cargo container, he found enough purchase to work up and pull himself onto the dorsal hull.

Keeping his head low he followed towards the far side of the ship. From up here he had a relatively clear view of the path ahead. A relatively clear path to his ship. Vetru reached into his pocket to check for the remote code cylinder.

"Let's go!" he skidding, feet first, down the slope of the hull and landed on the ground ahead of Jorus. He broke into a flat sprint, not slowing when he saw white soldiers emerge from the far side of the landing field ahead of him. They needed to get into the air.

 

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

Between the slide, the sprint, and the flamboyant ship, Vetru was proving to be an immensely useful distraction.

Just hope he doesn't get himself cooked for it.

Jorus peeled off and blitzed for his own ship. The City of Nar Shaddaa made up one whole edge of the landing field. His nondescript clothes blended in well with the backdrop the old space train provided. Not a single blaster shot came his way.

Within two minutes he'd settled into the pilot's seat and begun an abbreviated preflight sequence. He kept an eye on the situation through the cockpit viewports, unsure whether the kid had made it to his flying disco ball.

 

[Vetru]

A single blaster shot did come Vetru's way. It lanced just above his shoulder, kissing his cheek with the lethal heat. Luck had been on his side. He was up and into his ship, the ramp closing behind him.

The ship wasn't quiet in powering up. He didn't have a turret to dissuade the stormtroopers from standing firm and firing at his ship.

He swore under his breath as bolts stuck the hull before he got the shields up. His ship sent a quick challenge-response to the old man's to initiate an encrypted connection. It would at least force the imps to put some effort into listening in or jamming them. As Vetru expected, it was long distance subspace comms being jammed right now.

"I'll draw some of these TIEs!" he called out, pulling back hard on the controls to launch vertically before slamming the main engines into action. Vetru kept both hands on the controls, fighting the thick atmosphere his ship wasn't made to maneuver through.

Three red dots immediately appeared a few kilometers to his right, before he was being targeted.

Jorus Q. Merrill