Mission leaned over the edge of a small lookout down the street from the apartment. The few benches and potted plants were neatly maintained. She looked out over the city as far as she could see. The sky had turned a shade of gray and rosy red as the sun began to set. She watched the many air cars and speeders fly about through the sky lanes.
She had seen the smoke rising off in the distance from the skirmish Bastila had told them about. She couldn't believe the people were actually starting to fight back. She expected that from the Lower City inhabitants, they were accustomed to fighting as it was. Something had changed, and she wasn't sure if it was for worse or for the better.
She was going to miss this place, her home. Sure, it wasn't the best place to live as a twi'lek; it certainly had more than its fair share of problems and bigotry, but it was her home. She knew Zaalbar was going to follow Venar and the others now, because of the lifedebt, but part of her did want to stay behind. Not that she had anyone left here to stay with, it was more she was just used to the environment the planet bestowed. There was still so much of it she hadn't seen.
Suddenly, loud thunderous booms echoed in the sky. She heard several screams off in the distance and as she looked up, she couldn't believe her eyes. The silhouettes of the Sith dreadnoughts seemed closer than usual, and the space around suddenly lit up with a crimson glow as they all began to unleash a torrent from their laser cannons. Brilliant red beams of light streaked down towards the surface of the planet, like comets of pure destructive light. The first plasma bolt hit a skyscraper several miles away, cutting through the top and disintegrating the upper portion in a fiery ball of flames and debris. The scene was replayed over and over as more and more plasma bolts rained down on the planet sending fire, smoke, and rubble into the air.
Tears began to stream down her face and she fell onto her knees. She felt a giant pit in her stomach as she watched her world literally come crumbling down around her. She saw a Sith fighter come flying through the air in her direction and watched a brilliant beam of light seared through it sending it flying into the side of a building and erupting in a ball of flame. She barely even noticed the furry arms of her Wookie companion wrap around her from behind as he began to drag her away back towards the apartment. She didn't fight him. Her body simply went limp as she watched the city begin to burn.
The hangar door slid open just as a violent tremor shook the whole compound. Venar nearly lost his balance as the floor shook and deep thunderous boom echoed throughout the mansion. Alarms began to wail and they slipped inside the private hangar just as the sounds of running footsteps began to jump off the walls outside. The two men readied their blasters expecting the footsteps to be heading their way. They waited a few moments and the sounds of the men running gradually dissipated.
"What's happening?!" Venar shouted over the sounds of the klaxons as another tremor shook the mansion.
"I don't know but we need to get out of here and fast!"
The hangar held a single ship, a light Correllian dynamic-class freighter. It was gray with parts of it a reddish-orange color. The rear end of the ship held two circular engines. There was a small console next to the ship that controlled the hangar door and the locking mechanisms for the ship.
"Tee," Venar said, "we need the ship unlocked and the hangar door open." T3 beeped in acknowledgement and slid over to interface with the console.
"Well, well, well," came the familiar voice of Davik Kang. Him and Calo emerged from a secondary access way. "Looks like we have thieves in the hangar."
"Oh uh... we were just looking for the refresher..." Venar said.
"Let me take care of this, boss," Calo said as he drew twin blaster pistols from within the folds of his coat.
"Fine, but make it quick Calo," Davik said, another tremor shaking the base, "Those blasted Sith are gonna bring the whole city down on top of our heads!"
Calo opened fire with terrifying accuracy. A blaster bolt whipped past Venar's head as he ducked down behind a stack of crates. Canderous retrieved the heavy blaster rifle off his back and began firing an onslaught of fire as he ran forward towards Davik and Calo. He rolled forward as Calo shot several bolts right over the Mandalorian's head. As he got up from the roll, Canderous tossed a grenade towards Davik and the bounty hunter. Calo shot it in the air with lightning fast reflexes. The explosion cracked the ceiling and suddenly another tremor sent part of the ceiling collapsing downwards on top of Davik and Calo. Twisted metal and permacrete rained down, burying the two men in a pile of rubble.
"Lets go!" Venar shouted as he boarded the ship, T3 close behind. Canderous ran up the ramp as the engines started and the ship began to hover through the now open hangar door. Venar sat in the pilot's seat and was shocked to see fire everywhere through the cockpit of the freighter. He brought the ship up in a wide arc over the tops of some of the skyscrapers, watching as red glowing streaks rained down from the sky.
"Carth! Bastila!" Venar said over the comm, "come in! Can you read me?!" There was no answer. "Blast it! Bastila come in!" Still, no answer.
"This whole planet is being turned to slag," Canderous said, walking up behind him, "we need to leave. Now."
"I'm not leaving them to die."
"They're probably already dead! Do you see what's happening?"
"No... no they're alive... I can feel it." Venar suddenly turned the ship to the left and accelerated towards a building in the distance. There was a gaping hole in the top of the tower, smoke and fire billowing out, but it was still standing. "There. That's the building. They're there."
"You better know what you're doing, kid."
He brought the ship in low towards the street level. He pressed a switch on the dashboard and the loading ramp descended. Canderous left the cockpit and ran to the loading ramp. The ship slowly lowered, and Canderous saw several figures emerging from the entrance to the tower. Bastila, Carth, and the others ran towards the loading ramp as fast as they could. Canderous helped them all on board just as the tower was hit by another orbital strike. The plasma bolt struck the tower at its base, sending it toppling down towards the ship.
"Go go go!" Canderous shouted to the cockpit. Venar wasted no time and accelerated the ship at top speed. He watched several civilians and troopers running on the streets below, desperately trying to escape the path of the falling colossal tower quickly descending on them. He brought the ship to the right and up towards the atmosphere of the planet as the tower struck the street below, cutting through the bridge-like walkway and continuing to plummet further down towards the lower levels.
Carth and Bastila joined him in the cockpit as he accelerated the ship vertically towards the blockade. "You certainly like to cut it close!" Bastila said.
"Its more fun this way," Venar said sarcastically. Their eyes went wide as they saw a hail of plasma bolts heading straight towards them. "Strap yourselves in, this could get pretty hairy." Carth sat himself down in the co-pilots seat.
"Forward deflector shields at one hundred percent," Carth said as he flipped some switches. The freighter weaved in and out between the raining lasers, gradually getting closer and closer to the blockade. "Preparing to transmit orbital departure codes!"
"Hey Basty," Venar called, "now might be a good time to use some of that Jedi magic of yours." She just nodded and knelt down on the floor and closed her eyes. She reached out with the Force, using it to guide Venar through the maze of lasers raining down up them. She could feel them drawing closer to the fleet, until she could feel the presence of the massive ships right on top of them.
"Transmitting departure codes!" Carth called, "lets hope they buy it."
Bastila reached out deeper into the Force, she felt the minds of all the officers and pilots stationed on the dreadnaughts. She began to feed doubts into their minds, prodding at their consciousness to lose the will to fire on their ship. She felt the minds of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and begin to fill with apathy and a sense of hopelessness. A tremor shook the ship, breaking her concentration.
"Admiral Karath, sir," an ensign called from a nearby terminal, "there's a ship broadcasting clearance codes to leave the planet. The codes check out."
"Don't let that ship jump to hyperspace!" the Admiral shouted, "scramble fighters now! Lock on with a tractor beam!"
"Scrambling fighters now, sir. They're too far out of range to pull in with the tractor beam."
"What's the situation, Admiral?" Darth Malak asked.
"There's a Correllian freighter trying to leave the planet," Saul responded, "They're broadcasting the correct clearance codes."
"Bastila is on that ship," Malak said, "I can feel it."
A dozen Sith fighters swarmed out of the hangar of the Leviathan, engines screaming as they heading on a trajectory straight for the Ebon Hawk. Their plasma cannons opened fire as they closed the distance. Several shots hit their mark as the shield absorbed the brunt of the hits.
"Transferring auxiliary power to the rear reflector shields," Carth called out.
"How about we work on plotting a jump to hyperspace!" Venar shouted.
"Punching in coordinates now," Bastila said as she went to the map console.
"Prepping hyperdrive," Carth said.
"One down, eleven more to go!" Canderous shouted over the intercom as he blasted one of the enemy fighters with the swiveling plasma cannon. The ship shook as it took several more hits.
"Can't you fly this thing better?!" Bastila cried out as she almost lost her footing.
"I'm trying! Carth how long until the hyperdrive is ready?!" Venar shouted as he turned a hard banking turn to avoid the enemy fire.
"Two minutes! Almost there!"
"Three more down," Canderous said, "now this is more like it."
"Glad somebody is having fun in all this," Carth said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Just focus on getting us out of here!" Venar brought the ship into a barrel roll as Canderous shot down two more fighters.
"One minute!"
"The dreadnought is launching more fighters!" Bastila shouted.
"Ha ha! Bring them on! I live for moments like this!" Canderous again.
"Is anyone else a little concerned we may have brought a murderous lunatic on board?!" Venar quipped.
"Now you notice?!" Carth exclaimed.
"Now is not the time!" Bastila remarked.
"Hyperdrive ready!"
"Punch it!"
Carth pushed forward on a lever to his left and the Ebon Hawk lurched into hyperspace. The stars suddenly became long lines in the viewport and then a swirling blue vortex. Everything fell silent. Everyone let out a deep breath as it all started to sink in. They had just escaped certain death, but they had also just watched a planet die.
"How much longer until I get some more people to fight?" Canderous' voice came over the intercom.
"Someone should probably go check on Mission," Carth said, running a hand back through his hair.
"I suppose I could..." Bastila said.
"I'll go," Venar said, "probably not the best idea for her to talk to someone who doesn't believe in emotion."
"That's not- very well... perhaps I wouldn't be of much help."
Venar got up from the pilot's seat and walked through the corridors of the freighter, getting a good look at the interior of the ship for the first time. The corridors were circular with a main central room with a table and pantry. Walking down another hall he found a small workshop and next to it another larger room that served as the cargo hold. The layout of the ship he realized was kind of like a "U" shape, with the rear of the ship being at the bottom of the "U" and the crew quarters at the top left of the ship. He made his way over to the crew quarters and found Mission curled up on one of the beds. He sat down next to her on the edge of the bed.
"Hey... I uh... I just wanted to say I'm sorry about... well... all of that," he said gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now. Heck, I don't even know what I'm feeling right now either. Its not easy to witness something like that..."
She sat up slowly, tears streaming down her face, and she suddenly threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. She cried into his shoulder, tears staining his already dirty clothes. Venar held her tight in his embrace, not sure what else to do. "Its ok... I'm here for you."