Worth: A Star Wars Story

16. ...Is My Reluctant Friend

We made our way down to the cargo hold where we could hear the Trandos rooting through everything in their path, likely looking for Venn. We all exchanged looks before Venn gave a hand signal to Izvoshra, and I watched in mortification as it crawled up the wall and clung to the ceiling. "Pop those doors open?" Venn turned to us and raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Izvoshra will take care of our lightweight."

"Uh, sure..." Tor replied slowly as he stared up at the droid hanging overhead and gestured for Red to help him with the door.

Grek and I got into position and I gave the nod when Tor looked back over his shoulder at me. The doors hissed open and a Trando jumped out, clearly waiting. Before I could blast it, Izvoshra dropped from the ceiling, digging its clawed feet into the Trando before gesturing for us to go in as it wrestled the writing reptilian to the floor. Grek, Venn, and I jumped through the doors and started blasting as I caught sight o  Arevee ducking in and rolling forward before immediately starting to blast at the Trandos from another angle.

"Droids?" One of the lizards hissed in surprise as Clank rushed past us at full speed, taking a massive leap over the boxes and slamming into it.

"Aren't they supposed to be on our side?" Another shouted as I watched Izvoshra bound over the boxes and tackled the alien to the ground with a sickening snap. That definitely had to have been its spine.

"Seppies! Of course!" I heard Red shout with a groan as I saw Venn hurtle over a box and pull a knife from his boot to jam it into the Trando's respirator.

"Captain!" He shouted as he jumped back and rolled just in time to miss the explosion I set off when my blaster ignited the gas coming from the cut pipe. Would have hated to have been that guy. 

Another Trando burst out from behind some boxes with his slug thrower, an I would have been shot had something not grabbed me by the back and hurled me to the floor. To my surprise, it was Izvoshra. He had grabbed me with one clawed foot and then jumped on the Trando, claws holding onto his chest and stomach as it used its weight to force it to the ground right before Venn hit it with a slug thrower blast straight to the face.

"You alright, Captain?" Venn trotted over to me and held out a hand that I took as Tor grabbed my other arm and hauled me to my feet in time for me to look over and see Clank slam another Trando straight to the ground as Arevee emerged from behind some boxes with a few fresh blaster burns on his outer armor.

"All Trandoshans neutralized, sir!" Arevee replied chipperly as it made its way over to us. I wasn't sure how a droid could somehow look pleased with itself, but it felt like it was. "What are your orders, sir?"

"See if you can figure out who sent them for me. I might need to ask the SIS to call in some favors," Venn barely finished when Arevee held up a small datadisk.

"Already handled, sir!"

Tor stood by for a moment, "Huh... That's useful."

I turned to Arevee, "Can you get us moving again?"

"Can do, Captain!" Arevee gave a salute and hurried from the room as we began dragging the Trando bodies over to a nearby airlock.

"It was enlightening to see you all in action on the same side of the battlefield," Venn grunted as he and Red hefted one of the bodies onto the pile before we shut the door and stepped back, watching the bodies get sucked out to space as I hit the button. "I have to admit," he chuckled, "all the money the Republic spent on you paid off."

"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment," I dropped my voice and turned to look at Venn who held up a placating hand.

"I didn't mean anything by it, truly, and it was a compliment," Venn smiled and nodded at us as we slowly wound our way out of the cargo hold and through the hallways of the ship. I caught sight of Clank fiddling with a terminal, and sound the halls burst to life with light. Izvoshra was dragging the rest of the Trandos through the halls and tossing them into airlocks to jettison out to space as we passed and made our way to the helm where Arevee had hurried off to ahead of us.