FORSAKEN - Target: Zero

CHAPTER TWO

"Step away from the vehicle and put your hands up."

"In a cold day in the sun," said Elynn, jumping behind the wheel and speeding away with the ISB craft in tow.

"Are you out of your mind? That's the ISB, not the Coruscant Security Force." Kogo-Leeto held on the best he could as Elynn weaved through traffic.

"You want me to pull over so you can explain to them what we're doing?" Elynn—listening to music—shifted gears to cut a corner so fast, the speeder skidded, missing a commuter by a few centimeters.

"I just wanted to steal a luxury speeder like any good, law-breaking citizen, without making a political statement." The Rodian grabbed on to the side of the craft as it made a sharp turn into a busy street.

"It's called multitasking." Elynn cut into two speeders to avoid being flanked by the ISB.

"Swoop!" Kogo-Leeto pointed at a bike.

Elynn swerved to avoid the collision, forcing the rider to mount the curve. The ISB had a hard time keeping up with the Tri-Vanquish 1's powerful engine and greater maneuverability.

"I'm too friendly to be sent to a labor camp. I don't want to be a Dowutin's pet," Kogo-Leeto said.

One of the ISB crafts pulled to the speeder's side. "Pull over!" the pilot said.

"Yeah, I heard you the first time." Elynn shifted gears and turned the wheel hard to tilt the Tri-Vanquish 1 onto its side, squeezing between two commuters, merging into the entrance to a freeway at the last moment.

Kogo-Leeto sank lower into his seat and covered his head. The ISB had flown higher to continue in pursuit. Unable to shake them off, Elynn flew onto the incoming traffic lanes, zigzagging to avoid a head-on collision.

"We're going to die! We're going to die!" Kogo-Leeto hid behind his arms and peeked out occasionally only to witness near disaster.

Seeing an opportunity, Elynn applied the handbrake to spin the Tri-Vanquish around and piloted backwards.

"We're dead! We're dead!" Kogo-Leeto wrapped his head with his arms.

"Are you seeing this?" the ISB pilot said.

"Who is this guy?" his co-pilot said.

Elynn flew between two Cargo Master Z-24 Heavy speeder trucks. The ISB ships kept going, expecting to see the Tri-Vanquish zoom out the other side. But it didn't.

"Where are they?" said the co-pilot, baffled.

"We died—?" Kogo-Leeto couldn't believe his eyes. Elynn had wedged the airspeeder between the trucks, traveling along with them in the opposite direction.

As they passed over an underworld portal, Elynn fired the engine to free the speeder, and dove into sub-level access. These gargantuan ventilation shafts served as shipping lanes and carried numerous drainage pipelines from some of the buildings to the planet's surface.

"We're going to die again!" Kogo-Leeto's scream trailed off as they fell.

When the speeder reached the infamous Level 1313, with its dark streets, broken ducts, and water-stained walls, Elynn mingled with the rest of the heavy traffic. Getting to her neighborhood through a series of service streets, she parked in an alley so they could catch their breath. Being the center of the planet's criminal world, law enforcement had little impact on this level.

"That was some driving, Eels," sighed Kogo-Leeto, resting back in his seat. "I can't believe we made it in one piece."

"Meh, just a few scratches," Elynn studied the damage to the speeder. "Nothing that can't be buffered out."