Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

54:

My right shoulder pulsed in phantom pain at the memory, and my hand flew up automatically, rolling out the joint. Hunter's visor snapped to me, carefully tracking the movements of my shoulder, like he was worried I'd somehow injured it again.

"I'm fine," I reassured him quickly. "The Venator brings up some bad memories."

He grunted in affirmation and started moving, spurring the rest of us into a sprint down the narrow passageways. Troopers were on patrol everywhere - I could hear their comm chatter around us the further we ran, increasing in frequency the closer we got to Rampart's ship.

Hunter's raised fist had us all halting behind the nearest cover we could find - a low bridge serving as some kind of walkway - the enhanced clone peering around the support columns to watch two troopers and a service droid with a cart piled with crates march past us and disappear around the corner. Once he was sure they were well and truly gone, he dropped his hand, darting for another opening the opposite way the clones had gone.

Only the other way was not much better. Between us and the entrance to the ship were dozens of troopers on their designated rounds. Many of them were accompanied by hounds, sniffing at the floor, and spotlights swept the grounds, brightly illuminating the large empty space in front of us. There was no way we could cross that without attracting attention.

"There's not enough cover." I could hear the grimace in Echo's voice as he surveyed the shipyard. "We won't get across the shipyard undetected."

A speeder lifted off in front of us, revealing the air traffic lanes above us, transporting crates into the ship. Hunter tracked their movements, his head cocking to the side as he studied them, then the second transport directly in front of us.

"Not on foot."

I had two seconds to register what he meant before he ordered us to move, and then we were running towards the second platform.

It was already starting to leave the ground before all of us had made it - Wrecker and Tech had to jump to grab the bottom of the speeder before it could take off completely. Wrecker dangled precariously by one hand for several heart stopping seconds before I caught hold of him with the Force and pulled him up the rest of the way, both his legs wrapping tightly around the bars with a strangled noise.

"He's still not better with heights?" Rex muttered to Echo as the larger clone mumbled something that sounded a lot like "Don't look down" repeatedly under his breath.

"This is him better," Echo told him drolly. Wrecker's grip only tightened on the metal bar he hung from as his frantic mutterings increased in frequency.

Tech's datapad chimed, a noise I'd long since learned meant he'd successfully hijacked something. "I have bypassed the controls," he informed us seconds later. "Hang on."

The speeder accelerated suddenly, rising through the air at double its previous pace. With the Force thrumming through me, I could hear the confused warbles of the droid pilot above us, wondering why its speeder had stopped responding to its controls. Not the undetected approach we had been hoping for, but it was better than charging across the open shipyard.

Tech manoeuvred the transport into the Venator itself, wildly dodging obstacles and jerking it higher into the air. Too quickly - I let out a sharp hiss as my helmet slammed into the metal above me, the clang echoing around me as the others fell victim to Tech's uncontrolled steering.

"And he hates it when I pilot," I grumbled, clutching the metal tighter and resisting the urge to rub my throbbing head.

"Tech?" Hunter called out warningly as the other clone pulled the transport even higher, forcing it nearly vertical. My stomach dropped as the feeling of weight left me, my body drifting away from the bar before I locked my legs around the metal, clinging onto it with every ounce of strength I had.