STAR WARS: Gray Jedi

Chapter 13

The Shadow Troopers encroached on Destin and engaged. Destin fought with all his dexterity. Fighting these Troopers was all too easy when they were caught off guard, but now they had recovered and weren't about to be taken down so easily a second time. Destin fought them off to the best of his ability but he was being outnumbered from too many oncoming angles. Destin parried, struck, dodged, and twirled his body. His stamina was being pushed to the limits. The force from the Shadow Troopers' vibroblades were almost too much to brush off, but Destin held – he had too. He couldn't let the holocron fall back into the First Order's hands. He couldn't let them have Neema. Destin kicked a Trooper in the gut.

It was then that the sound of a ship hovering above closed in. The Shadow Troopers held their incoming attacks, blinded by the floodlight shining from the ship's underbelly. Destin directed his gaze upward and saw Neema and Bozin's ship, The Nighthawk, hovering above him. The Stormtroopers, who were at at the Admiral's side, stepped forward to guard him. Bozin's voiced echoed out of the ships P.A. speaker.

"Bad guys!" Bozin announced with a chipper. "Please lay down your weapons, and kindly get the hell away from my friends!"

The shore party of Stormtroopers at Maas's side raised their blasters, aiming at the ship. They opened fire, sending blaster shots that bounced off The Nighthawk's hull.

"Fine!" Bozin shouted. "I asked nicely!"

The Stormtroopers were only able to let off a few more rounds of blaster shots before Bozin opened fire with a heavy payload of the ships cannon blasters. The rounds overwhelmed the Stormtroopers, mowing them down hard and leaving a heavy cloud of dust and debris in their wake. The Shadow Troopers left Destin, retreating quickly to protect their Admiral. As the dust settled, Destin saw the Shadow Troopers and Admiral Maas disappear into an adjacent alleyway. Destin turned and saw a rescue harness lower from The Nighthawk. 

Bozin's voice cried out. "Destin! Get Neema on the ship!" 

In the distance, Destin spotted an Imperial scout vessel ship rising from behind a building in the direction Maas escaped. It hovered for a moment and then sped up out towards the atmosphere of Nar Shadaa and Destin knew that Maas had gotten away.  

"Damn!" he cursed. 

Bozin's voice echoed in the street, "Destin, come on!"

Relunctantly, Destin turned. He ran over to Neema and lifted her into his arms. He secured the harness around both their waists and waved, signaling Bozin to pull them up. The harness lifted and Destin and Neema were back within The Nighthawk's living area where Bozin was waiting for them.

"Is she ok?" Bozin asked as he knelt beside Neema.

"Just try to keep her still." Destin stood and ran into the cockpit.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Bozin asked.

"We have to follow that First Order ship," Destin replied.

"What!? Are you crazy!?"

"I can't let them escape!" Destin began taking The Nighthawk off of autopilot and switching it to manual control.

"Like hell we can't!" Bozin stood and strutted to Destin's side. "Neema is hurt! Bad! We gotta get out of here! You're seriously gonna risk everything chasing down one man!?"

"He's not just any man!" Destin snapped back. He pressed flight control buttons and flipped switches as fast as he could.

Bozin took a breath. "Look, I get it. You have some serious beef with Maas, but he's probably linking up with more of his Stormtrooper buddies at this very moment in a Super Star Destroyer! Even if we did catch up with him, do you really think we can take all of them on with just one ship?"

Destin paused, his hand gripped tightly around the flight-stick. He had Maas in his sights. He was right in front of him and he slipped away. Destin grew frustrated, knowing he may never get another chance like this again...but he turned his head. He saw Neema laying on the ship floor, unconscious, blood running down her face. 

Bozin placed a hand on Destin's shoulder. "Destin...Neema needs our help," he said.

Bozin was right, and Destin knew it. He couldn't go after Maas at the cost of sacrificing Neema. It took him a moment, but with a grunt of frustration, he let go of the flight-stick and stood from the pilot's chair.

"Thank you," Bozin said.

Destin moved over to Neema and kneeled beside her, examining the bleeding wound on her temple. "We need to get her help," he said to Bozin, "but we can't get it here. Maas and his troopers will come back for us. We need to get off planet. I can keep her stabilized, but she's going to need proper treatment. Is there any system close by where we can disappear and get her help at the same time?"

Bozin stammered, "Uh...uhhh..."

Destin looked at him.

"Think, Bozin."

"Uh..." Bozin closed his eyes, pondering.

"Bozin!" Destin shouted.

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" he responded.

Just then, Neema stirred. She tried to speak. "..Tor...Tormir..." she uttered.

Bozin opened his eyes "Yes, YES! Tormir!" he cried. "I got it!" Bozin jumped into the pilot's seat and locked in the flight sequencing into the ship's nav terminal on the dash.

"Wherever we're going," Destin said, "Get us there fast." He turned to Neema. "Hang in there, Neema," he whispered, "Everything will be ok."

 He stood and searched the cabinets of the ship for a medkit. Bozin flew the ship away from the surface of Nar Shadaa and soared it upwards and out of the planet's atmosphere. Once safely in space, Bozin engaged light speed, and The Nighthawk sped away into the stars.