What took you so long…

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica Felidae sits alone in the cold, her knees drawn tight to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs to conserve body heat. She hasn't slept in days because her captors flood her cell with harsh bright light at odd intervals. She has never been so hungry, and her body aches from the daily beatings her tormentors call "training." She knows what they are trying to take from her, and she refuses to surrender it. But she is alone and in more pain than she has ever before endured, and her will is a strand of spider silk holding a crystal chandelier. One more beating, one more sleepless rest period, one more hour spent shivering on a bare durasteel bunk, and she may drop that chandelier. And that scares her more than dying, because it means submitting to her fear, embracing her anger: because it means turning to the Dark-side.

Then the place in her mind that belongs to her companion on this mission begins to warm, and she knows Jacen is thinking of her. She pictures him sitting in his own cell in another spoke of the space station, his jaw clenched with earnest resolve, and the warm place in her mind starts to grow. She stops shivering, her hunger fades, and her fear turns to resolve.

This is the gift of the Force: that no Jedi is ever truly alone. They share a connection through the Force that will always sustain them. When one grows weak, the other strengthens. When one hurts, the other soothes. It is a bond that cannot be broken by any power in the galaxy, as much a part of them as the Force itself.

So she puts aside her despair and turns her thoughts to escape, because when she and Jacen work together, nothing is impossible. They are on a space station, so they are going to have to steal a spacecraft. They will have to find a way to deactivate the hangar's containment field, perhaps through sabotage or by forging a launch authorisation. And that means they are going to need some time before the guards realise they're gone.

The only way to tell time in the cell is to count heartbeats, and Nubica is too busy planning to do that. So when Jacen's place in her mind begins to grow larger and more full, she has no idea how much time has passed. But she has felt the sensation thousands of times before, and she knows what it means: he is coming.
Her pulse begins to pound with excitement, and soon she can feel Jacen's pulse pounding to the same rhythm. He is very close now, coming down the corridor outside her cell — and she cannot sense any other presences accompanying him. She doesn't want him to know how frightened she has been — or how close she has come to breaking — so she begins a Jedi breathing exercise to calm herself.

Then she feels him stop two cells away.

Not there, dummy, she thinks. Keep coming.

There is a flutter in her heart as he grows confused, and she worries that her savoiur is about to open the wrong cell and ruin their escape. She reaches out to him with the Force, trying to physically pull him toward her…

[member=Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

The unforgiving elephant-tread deck is hard underneath him, but it is not the source of his greatest discomfort. The silence is punctuated only that consistent rhythm. One long breath out and he closes off his mind to the sound of his blood dripping to the floor. They haven’t even bothered to dress the wound and only by calling on the Force has he been able to stem the infection.

There, on the edge of his perception, he brushes against her mind. It takes all of his will to leave the physical behind and reach out. Her resolve is fading. Neither the hard floor nor his many wounds are causing him the most pain; that honour belongs to his guilt.

This is his fault.

The world-lines stretch out before him as he reaches beyond the three physical dimensions. The last chance to right his wrongs is coming. She is far too young to be in this situation. Yet he feels her bolstering herself for what is to come. He closes off his mind once more as he is wracked with concern. This was a scar that could run deep for her. It might never fully heal.

This was his fault.

The moment was upon him. The subtle shift in the Force is barely perceptible at first. Even as his mind is turning back to the immediate it becomes stronger. The gentle ripple became a wave. There is a faint crackle as the iridescent field at the threshold of his cell winks out of existence. Jacen opens his eyes as the broad-shouldered human with the wicked smile steps in. His tormentor pauses, rocks back onto his heels for a moment. He sees something in those eyes and it triggers and instinctive reaction. It is the realisation of a predator as it looks upon its cornered prey and understands its mistake. Jacen moves; it is over quickly.

Sad, world weary boots sit alone outside his cell, abandoned as he pads towards her. He knows roughly where she is being held, but unless he moves assuredly through the station without making a sound it will be of no use.

In one hand he holds a chipped card, stolen from his tormentor’s hands. On his lips he repeats the matching pin number, stolen from his guard’s mind. Jacen follows the threads she is drawing him down. He looks over each shoulder down the corridor to check for any more guards. He swipes the card, he taps in the code. The rippling sheen on the heavy-set door reveals a quadranium frame. For a moment he fears that the last roll of the die has bounced off the table.

He sighs. “Time we fething legged it eh?”

 

[Nubica Felidae]

They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. She wonders if he will close the final few metres, and finds herself on her knees, the room spinning. Blood leaks from her right temple, she is suddenly aware of the patterns on the floor — little crimson circles. Pain blurs her vision, clouding her thinking.

Gingerly she places her hand to her right temple, feeling the warm, sticky blood, the small hole there. The blood is fresh; the wound recent.

Rapid flashes of the lights make her movements seem herky-jerky, not her own, the stop-starts of a marionette in unpracticed hands. Her body aches. She feels as if she's been beaten. Her skull feels as if someone has driven a nail through it.

But her drifting thoughts are brought back to the here and now as the control pad outside her cell door begins to click.

She breathes a sigh of relief, then folds her arms across her chest and leans back against the wall.

Somehow, he deactivates the alarm before he unlocks the cell, then manages to unlock the cell without activating the intercom to the control centre. Finally, the door hisses open, and she sees her saviour standing outside.

“Time we fething legged it eh?”

"What took you so long?" she demands, interrupting her saviour’s fun. "I've been waiting for you."

She slips off her bunk and steps through the door past him, then looks down the corridor in both directions, searching for guards or other signs of trouble. However he managed to get this far —there is a good chance that the guards are on to him by now.


“Which way?” she asks, her energy levels suddenly rejuvinated. But it’s a second wind and it is only a matter of time before she crashes. They need to move soon.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

"What took you so long?" she demands, interrupting her saviour’s fun. "I've been waiting for you."​

​

"Well obviously I masterminded my plan two days ago, but I enjoyed the beatings so much I decided to stay a while," he quipped. She looked like crap. He probably looked worse. Asking how she was holding up wasn't going to help them get out any faster; they needed to get away from the immediate area and he had no medical supplies.

“Which way?” she asks, her energy levels suddenly rejuvenated.​

​

"That way," he said, waving towards their left. "It's the longer route towards maintenance section, but the short path goes through the garrison barracks. I'm afraid the station has a tractor beam, recognised the silhouette on our way in. Got to take it out first," he explained as they jogged. In a galaxy torn apart by wars, it was the military suppliers that thrives. Corporations that grew and swallowed each other whole. There were only so many designs in the Galaxy and he had once had to defend one of these from a Sith assault - unsuccessfully.

"Based on the shifts I watched we should have another five minutes before they sound the alarm, but..."

The alarm sounded. Jacen sighed.

"but they might get onto us sooner," he finished. Even as exhausted as he was, the Force warned him of impending danger. Two armoured guards stepped out ahead of them in a quick march. "The one on the left!" he shouted as his legs pumped hard. The guard on the right barely moved his rifle before Voidstalker barrelled into him, bearing him to the deck.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

But luck seemed to be with them today, as she saw nothing but the closed doors of other cells. She would have liked to have freed the other captives, but she knew better than to try. Their wills had most likely already been broken, and one of them would be sure to alert the guards. So she simply closed her own door and leaned closer to Jacen.

Her skils were primarily wrapped up in duelling. She invariably got bored during classes about Meditation. Something she was now regretting. She’d seen how others could rejuvenate themselves through the Force. She could have used that right now. But she did allow it to flow through her for a few moments before jogging behind Jacen.

“What do you call the person who brings dinner to a rancor? The appetizer!”

She chuckled at her own joke and wondered if it was the first sign of madness? Or exhaustion? She headed left with Jacen and took it all in as she kept up.

And then her ears informed her that their luck was finally up. The klaxons seemed especially loud right now and impacted on her ability to focus. So it was a good job that he warned her of the guards.

She wasn’t as fast as she usually was, but the guards were no doubt as surprised to see them, and she was a Jedi and they weren’t. So she leapt at the one on the left, feet first. Usually she would have impacted his chest, or even his throat. Now, in her current physical condition, she managed to reach his groin. Which, was actually a positive as he doubled up in pain and allowed her to elbow him in the face.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

Jacen went down heavily with the second guard. The sudden jolt wracked his whole body with excruciating pain as every injury was shaken. The bugger was strong and the blaster rifle was turned towards him with an inexorable force. As his chest came into line with the barrel there was a quiet beep. The guard looked down to see Jacen’s thumb on the safety catch.

Palm first, he struck at the underside of the guard’s helmet. Two strikes landed heavily before pressing hard, forcing the guard’s head away from him. The trooper abandoned his rifle and smashed his forearm into Jacen’s jaw. There was the sudden, metallic taste of blood and the world span.

Taking the opportunity the guard moved to get on top of Jacen whilst he was stunned and prone. At the last moment the Jedi’s senses returned to him and he got his knees between them. His arms came up to protect his head from a flurry of strikes. His bare arms came off second best against the guard’s plastoid gauntlets.

Jedi reflexes kicked in and Jacen caught the next strike. He legs splayed out to wrap around the guard’s waist and he pulled his arm in to his chest. With one press through the hips Jacen send the guard rolling to one side. His arm trapped, the guard was force to go with the roll.

Now on top and straddling the guard, Jacen knew the fight was over. He grasped his helmet, using all his strength to slam it back against the deck again and again until he sensed the other man losing consciousness. Plastoid helmets were great at dealing with stray blaster bolts, not much use against concussion.

His chest heaved as very cautiously got back to his feet. His vision still swam as he picked up the rifle. “That was a good joke,” he sighed as he wiped blood from his mouth. It would have been inappropriate if she was still struggling of course.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Fully fit, her two strikes would have ended the scrap. But she was weaker and slower. So her lack of kinetic energy meant the injuries were little more than a distraction.

She felt a boot slam into her ribs — an instant before he saw it coming — and the breath left her lungs. She tried to counter with a head-high backslash and brought her own foot up, landing instead a Force-enhanced snap-kick between the legs of trooper. Whatever she was trying, she was coming up short. The blow drew a pained grunt but failed to even stagger her foe.

An elbow slammed up under her chin, rocking her onto her heels. Perhaps it was desperation, or simply anger welling in her that her training had allowed her to turn into a positive energy, but Nubica sprang at her attacker, doubling him over with a powerful thrust kick to the gut, then dropped to her haunches and immediately spun into a squatting leg-wheel, hooking her heel behind a leg and sweeping it forward.

The guard roared in surprise and tried to transfer his balance to his other leg, but she was already coming up on his flank, driving her shoulder into him and sending him tumbling. She grabbed his rifle and slapped it across his back, over and over until he ceased moving.

“I had time to think them up,” she said as she pulled herself up to full height, throwing the rifle onto the prone body. “So, which way now?”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

Jacen took a moment to admire her handiwork. She could certainly punch above her weight.

"I'm sorry," he said under his breath. He said it without thinking and as soon as the words were uttered he turned away, not wishing to meet her green eyes or look at the ragged gouge on the side of her head. The sudden pang of guilt for what he'd got the delicate featured Padawan tangled up in was quickly swallowed as the enormity of their task overwhelmed his thoughts.

“The end of this corridor, down a few decks to maintenance. Then it's a straight run towards the centre of the station to the tractor beams and generators. We'll run down the generators if we get a chance, but at the least we'll take the tractors offline,” he said stoically. He knew the chances of pulling this off were slim, but there was no need to express as much to Nubica.

Jacen flicked the switch on the side of his rifle, turning it to stun. He shouldered it and tested sighting it down the corridor, feeling it's weight. That done, his left hand came out and gently squeezed her shoulder. “Let's go,” he said quietly, this time meeting her eyes. He set off into a jog, bare feet slapping against the deck, until they reached the stairwell. He surreptitiously opened the door, there were footsteps and voices coming from the other levels. They had to move quickly.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

She regularly surprised. Too often she was underestimated — typically by opponents and she used that to her advantage. Yet Yoda was a fraction of her size and people learned the hard way just how tough an opponent he could be.

She listened and — unlike most Jedi, did her best not to relax. She needed to remain focused and in the zone that was about her love to fight. She was not serenity personified. She was about the Light — but the power of the Light, not its tranquility.

In these times, a greater range of Abilities would no doubt have put her in good stead, but that was not who she was. She was a warrior. With a saber in her hand she was a match for any peer. Without one? Droids needed to take care, but otherwise she was underpowered. At least in this physical state. For she was a weapon, but currently running on empty batteries.

“If we can grab our sabers, even better, but I’ll not lose sleep if we can’t.”

She followed him and knew what he said was rue, and what he didn’t say was just as relevant. She wasn’t stupid, but as a Jedi, she planned for success first. And hen planned for failure.

She heard the noises ahead and quickened her pace to match the Jedi Master.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

Her comment on their lightsabers sparked a quick thought process in the Jedi Master. As they hurried down the stairs, taking them in leaps and bounds, he mentally mapped out their task ahead. If he was on their side of the fence and it was reported the two Jedi had disabled the tractor beams what would he do? Reinforce the hangar bays of course, seal them shut. Looking down at the rifle in his hands, and feeling the drain on his reserves, he knew they would probably need them just to get off the ship.

“Can you sense where they’ve put them?” Jacen asked. One floor from the base of the station’s habitable areas was a maintenance hatch which he quickly swung open. The long corridor was only three feet high and they’d have to crawl single file. Jacen turned his eyes back up the stairwell, seeing the shadows move and hearing the footsteps of approaching troopers. Perhaps they weren’t even pursuing, but if they were this was going to be tricky.

He waved for Nubica to go first. At least this way he could keep the rifle trained behind them. If they weren’t pursued they could squeeze past each other and he could take the lead. They had to be practical, but getting the young padawan out of danger was his primary concern.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

A fully rested Nubica would easily sense her saber. The crystal felt as though it had a pulse. A little heart that beat and she was attuned to it. The closer she was, the stronger the sensation. But on this ship, she’d usually be able to find it.

But her connection was weakened. She wished she’d paid more attention in Meditation classes. “If I get close, I’ll sense it,” she said — as much in hope as expectation. “But logic says in the armoury or in the captain’s quarters. Where else would you keep it?”

She kept her voice low. Sure, the alarms were sounded but they didn’t know precisely where they were. She noticed him open the maintenance shaft and without thinking, headed in. It was a narrow opening but she’d been starved for an indefinite period, and without her bulky robes she was finding the space large enough to travel through without too much difficulty.

But the heat, coupled with that lack of energy was soon a challenge — but given the alternative was to give herself up, she pressed on. “A clone trooper walks into a cantina and asks the barman, “Hey, have you seen my brother?” “I dunno,” says the barman, “What does he look like?””

She chuckled to herself. “I have more…”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

“But logic says in the armoury or in the captain’s quarters. Where else would you keep it?”

He nodded and grunted affirmatively. “Yeah should have thought. They’ll have been checked into the armoury. Tough nut to crack that one,” he said. But without them…

Jacen grimaced as he awkwardly manoeuvred himself into the hatch. In hindsight he should have checked for a sidearm on the guards. It was difficult to keep the bulky rifle trained back down the shaft whilst half crawling, half shuffling backwards.

“A clone trooper walks into a cantina and asks the barman, “Hey, have you seen my brother?” “I dunno,” says the barman, “What does he look like?””

[SIZE=12pt]He chuckled as he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the hatch behind them. If it moved he’d quickly take the safety off the rifle and hold firm. There wasn’t much of a chance of retreat so if they came after them down here, he’d have to hold his ground whilst Nubica fled. A hand grenade would have seemed appropriate for making a last stand with, but unfortunately he didn’t have one to hand. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Sure, if you’ve got more than go for it,” he said. He paused to look over his shoulder. She wasn’t looking back at him, but he smiled reassuringly anyway. If it kept her mind off their predicament than he’d suffer any number of dreadful jokes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Jacen sensed her flagging, but also the strength of her determination to keep going. As it had when they had been in separate cells, his influence reached out to her through the Force. He tried to bolster her resolve, soothe her fears and concerns. We’ll get through this.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Once he had tried that same trick on an Alliance soldier who had seen something so abhorrent he had broken down. Instead Jacen had taken that pain and without realising what he was doing had called on the Dark Side during their mad charge of the Final Order fortress. Now he could look back at that objectively, know where he had made his mistakes. As a Jedi Master he didn’t tend to look back on his past forlornly any more. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]As they turned a corner he pulled his rifle up to his chest and rolled over. “Alright, squeeze over, I’m going first now.”[/SIZE]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica smiled. “It’s supposed to be tough to crack isn’t it? I mean , who’d keep weapons in a store cupboard? Especially on a ship. But perhaps they’d expect us to simply head straight for an escape route and so won’t think to defend it?”

She continued to move and talk. She wasn’t in the mood for more jokes at present, she needed to focus and save her energy. “Later,” she said, “When we’re safely on our way out of here. I know one about a Hutt and a Twi’lek that’ll make you blush.” She chuckled.

The silence hung for a few moments before she saw a corner up ahead. Before she could ask any questions, she was aware Jacen was speaking again.

“Sure,” she responded and squashed herself, face first, into the side of the space. He would have enough room to squeeze past, although his shoulders were broad.

Stopping wasn’t a great idea. Closing her eyes and going to sleep seemed appealing right now. He could wake her in a day or so with a hot meal and a beer. She smiled at the thought and the moment he was past she rolled onto her front. Given her predicament only a few hours ago, she was in much better shape. They were free and their captors did not know where they were.

It was time to let them know.

“Close,” she said, suddenly, the word came unbidden into her mouth. “I sense my saber. The armoury must be near.” And that glimmer of hope fuelled her heart and raised her spirits exponentially.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]
[member="Nubica Felidae"]

"I was a soldier for over a decade Felidae, if you make me blush I'll let you have a beer on the way back this time," he retorted. When she'd been under eighteen he hadn't let her drink after one of their missions together during the Alliance expansion northwards. After the ordeal she'd been through, he felt she probably deserved a little leniency. "Just don't tell Masters Adonai, Rhen or your tutor," he added quickly as he realigned himself to point the rifle ahead of themselves.

He saw a great deal of his younger self in the padawan, but there were stark differences too. She had the rebellious, headstrong attitude that needed to be tempered in common with what the young Voidtsalker had often displayed. At the same time she had a drive that he'd never had. For him becoming a Jedi had just been another sign that he was intended to do great things, to be great. Even as he was dismissed from the Order for his reckless behaviour it had never occurred to him fully that the Order was about responsibility.

Reaching out with his senses he found his own blade. "Alright, but we'll need to move fast. By now they'll have signalled for help and specialists will be on the way. Commandos, bounty hunters, maybe even a dark side adept,"

Finding an exit hatch he crept out carefully. His eyes scanned the dark corridor searching for familiar landmarks. Just as it had been on the station he'd once garrisoned the armour was at the end of a corridor that split off from an outer ring. He could sense the lone guard at the end of it.

“You're a little short to be a Stormtrooper,” Jacen remarked dryly. “Let me handle this one.”

Closing his eyes he reached out to the guards mind. He built the suit of armour around himself piece by piece, building up the illusion over time. When it was complete, he stood to attention and rounded the corner. He threw the guard a nonchalant wave as he approached. Yet as he drew near he crossed the last few feet in a flash. One strike with the butt of the rifle put the guard down quickly and quietly.

“Come on!” he called back. “There will be more of them.”

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica doubted the joke would make him blush. But there was invariably something disarming about the right joke from the wrong person that made even hardened souls think twice. Or was that the wrong joke from the right person?

“On some planets there is no minimum age for drinking you know. And drugs are legalised. And slavery is common-place. So I tend to let my brain decide what’s right and wrong and avoid breaking the law wherever possible. But just because it’s legal, it doesn't mean I have to flaunt it.”

She wasn’t even sure why she said it. She’d had beers before. And wine. And she could take it or leave it to be honest.

And she’d speed up as best as she could. Escaping would be hard enough even if they had nobody to deal with. Local troopers? A challenge but a small one. Bounty hunters and Sith? That might be a step too far in her present state. Jacen? He was older, wiser and stronger in the Force, but she figured even he wasn't as fresh as a daisy. Their captors probably gave him a harder working over, figuring he had more information to give.

She followed him through the hatch. He seemed to have local knowledge, or at least familiarity with the way these ships were set-up. She made a mental note to study more. Ship’s schematics were clearly worth reading. And flight controls for standard issue ships too. She realised she was lacking in these areas and without the Jedi Master, she’d still be in the cell. And even rescued, would have no idea where to head.

She smiled at the stormtrooper jibe. It was almost a compliment — and appealed to her quirky sense of humour. But she didn’t distract him. He was clearly doing something, so she just allowed him to do his thing and waited for the signal to move.

She heard the crack of gun on armour — with a sprinkling of skull thrown in for good measure and when called, jogged forward. Her saber was the far side of the door in front of them, this she knew. Figuring he didn’t have access to every code on the ship, and hadn’t stolen a master pass-key, she put her hand on the military-grade lock on the door.

She momentarily closed her eyes and purple light coalesced around her right hand. The lock was being overloaded with ions. She didn’t want to destroy the lock. That might set off an alarm. What she did was akin to stunning a droid. The circuits were temporarily stunned and the door unlocked. Once they shut it again, it would be as if nothing had happened. No alarm. No gaping door.

She grabbed the prone body and dragged him into the door through the door that was now ajar. She glanced around and sensed her saber in a locker. She repeated the process and opened the small door. Her saber was there and she grabbed it and — realising she had no belt to attach it to, held it in her hand. There was no sign of her robes or boots, and she knew they didn’t have time to look for them.

But a pair of trooper boots caught her eye and she pulled them on quickly. It beat fighting bare-foot.

“Ready?” she asked as she found a utility belt and strapped it on, finding a place to hang her saber from. “I guess we don’t have time to look for these in pink?”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

Jacen found some combat webbing and a few flashbang and smoke grenades to hang from it. He then traded the bulky rifle for a carbine with a fresh gas cannister and a few spare power packs. Finally his hands found the hilt of his saber almost of their own accord. Every notch and groove in the metallic hilt was intimately familiar. He let his fingers give the cylinder a gentle squeeze, akin to a reassuring embrace when meeting an old friend.

"Ready," he replied. "You can never have enough grenades he added with a wry smile and a wink. If he'd had more time he would have at least found a chest plate to wear. Even with a Jedi's precognitive awareness and lighting fast reflexes it was never worth risking the one stay bolt that could bring you down. "Actually..." he said, before quickly fashioning a makeshift tripwire with a fragmentation grenade. Not very Jedi-like, but they needed every second they could get.

It was a short jog to the tractor beam controls and he talked as they went. "Didn't mean to make a thing out of the drink," he said apologetically. "Let's just say it is not becoming of a Jedi Master to be seen drinking alcohol with padawans," he said in a light hearted tone. Damn, but he could really do with a beer after this though.

"Ah open walkways, of course. You'd think one day they'd put handrails back in," he said as they reached an open blast door. A series of walkways crisscrossed the open space over the generators. He quickly spotted the tractor controls. He also spotted to several squads they'd posted. Someone had seen this move coming.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica was ready first, given she picked up fewer things. Boys and their toys! “Can’t say I’ve ever used a grenade. But there’s always a first time I suspect.”

“And given their treatment of us, a few booby-traps seem a reasonable gift to leave them. Don’t worry on my account. If it helps us get out alive, you’ve got my support.”

As they began the jog to their next port of call, she listened and kept her senses honed for anything the Force might call out to her. Having her saber had strengthened her resolve. It made it feel their escape was every more likely.

“No worries about the drink. I happen to like water. And soda. Meiloorun soda in paticular. I don’t see the point in getting drunk. But that’s just me…old before my time.”

“But it’s odd you make the distinction by rank. On Ossus we were encouraged to put that aside. OK, Padawans didn’t want to be seen socialising with Masters, but we could if we wanted. Unless there’s something I’m missing? Is it just the alcohol aspect?” She sounded like she genuinely wanted to find out.

She had a head for heights — fortunately. Health and safety clearly had limited power here. She spotted the controls at the same time as the squads. “If you’re volunteering to give your life at this point so I can escape, it was nice knowing you.” She laughed softly. “But seriously, what’s the plan?”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

"Think nothing off it," Jacen replied with a dismissive wave of one hand. "I'm clearly too tired to be trying to be amusing. But I am having a beer if we get out of this mess," he added. He didn't have time to feel bad now, but he did regret drawing attention to the separation in age and rank between them in a misguided attempt at humour.

Through both his eyes and the Force he map a quick mental map of the walkways. Fighting in a three dimensional arena was always difficult. He recalled his urban warfare training vividly. On a remote world the Republic had whole towns and all kinds of buildings constructed just for military exercises. Moving from floor to floor to clear out an occupied skyscraper was a nightmare.

"Last thing we want is having them above us. That's a death sentence. One of us can hold here and engage from a distance, the other can get up on that high walkway and come at the squad of troopers on the far side from above," he said. His eyes turned to the walkway nearly twenty feet above their own. The tractor controls were on a platform at the centre of six spokes a few metres below their level. "Have you get the energy left to get on up there?" he asked.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

She listened and figured, before he got to the killer question, what she had to do.

“I suspect you’re a way better shot with that thing than I am. An now isn’t the time to practice.” She added small arms to the list of things she would learn when (rather than if) she got out of here.

And no sooner had she finished speaking than she was off. She was smaller than him, and presented a smaller target and also was less likely to be seen. If he could distract them, she stood a real chance of getting up and across the walkway.

Did she have the energy? Did she have a choice? There was something about life or death that made you either give up, or dig deep. And she was currently finding reserves she didn’t even know about.

“If you were thinking about laying down suppressive fire, now’s a good time,” she offered with a chuckle as she started to climb, aware she’d been in their eyeline very soon — unless he could distract them.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

Jacen shouldered the carbine. Found his aiming point and tried to settle himself. Everything about his position felt wrong. Perhaps it was exhaustion, or the bruising and fatigue of his body, but he already knew the shot was going wide as he fired.

The blue stun ring impacted against the far wall. Cries of surprise and harshly barked orders followed. Jacen took a deep breath and tried to Centre himself. He had come to terms with his past failure, had learned to look to the future to try and think of what he wanted to do, not was he was afraid of happening. Yet one thought went through his mind.

If I feth this up she is going to die.

One long slow breath out and he immersed himself in the Force. Time seemed to slow and he suddenly felt his form and positioning settling. Some muscles relaxed, others tightened. The carbine felt right in his arms again.

Time seemed to return to normal as he saw Nubica advance in his periphery. He tapped the trigger twice, shifted his aim and fired twice more. The two guards on her platform collapsed as blue arcs ran across their armour.

Now the soldiers on the lower levels started to fire at him. One bolt came perilously close to his head and left a long scorch mark behind him. The carbine was abandoned and he threw a smoke grenade. It would have been an impossible throw, to land a grenade on the platform below and have it stop without rolling off. He reached out and wrapped it up in a telekentic grip, holding it to the platform as it belched out a plume of dark smoke. Smoke wouldn’t bother the Jedi; they had other senses.

His lightsabre came to his hand and he prepared himself. Soon the last defenders would be attacked from both directions.