[A:3]
Post by Saber on Jan 16, 2009 2:38:06 GMT -5
Here's my fic for Rev's challenge.
Author: Saber
Hunted or Hunted?
Genre: One Shot Action
Rating: PG-13
Author’s Note: For the record this is based off a Role Play I did on Enter the Force with another member and I turned this into a Fan fiction story for Rev’s One shot challenge I do not own any of the characters or places in my story. The planets belong to the creator of Enter The Force Kel . The characters belong to Ash Lightning. The only character I own is the one that I created for ETF and that is Kayla Sabrina Solo.
“Ah, Cloud City, the ablate mole of the Republic. It’s a waste of time being here, Ash,” Char said.
“Cool it, Char. We will have our man soon,” Ash said.
Five people in Mandalorian armor stood on an overhang. All were chrome plated; three with green trim, one with blue, and one black with deep blue trim. Ash was in the black one; Char, Ash’s second in command, had the blue trim. All the Mandalorians had a sniper rifle pointed a door, a window, the roof, and at two different walkways, waiting for a target.
It was a simple bounty of a Rodian who owed a large sum of money to a hut, and one of Ash’s and Char’s guys had them on a mission. Unknown but to Ash, and partly to Char, was that this would hopefully be where they found the trail of Shino. After Myrkr, they traveled around for this Rodian bounty.
“I have action up here.”
Four rifles zoomed in on a window, the one where the fifth was watching. A human sniper spotted him. This human was Ash's best sniper, next to Ash who could use the force for help, but he and Char were still within the range of the Ysalamiri that were stowed on the Blade.
Kayla Sabrina Solo poked her head about and looked at the scene. “Let’s just blast these guys and get out of here.”
“Hold up, that’s not our target. Mando’s, hold your fire.”
All the Mandalorians back away, but they never looked away from the window. The overhand was dimly lit by the dipping sun, but they had to have been seen anyway.
A couple more steps and the Mandalorians were behind a wall. They shook their heads, but one, a green trimmed one, kept lookout, watching the building for anything. He minimized his hit ratio by laying on the walkway, looking through his scope.
Ash removed his helmet, brown, blonde hair pasted to his head. After a moment, Char did the same, his blue trimmed helmet hiding his Leku.
“What happened, Char?” Ash asked.
“I don’t know. We could have the wrong building. It’s hard to tell from here,” Char replied.
Kayla Solo leaned against the wall and watched as a droid carrying a blaster was about to shoot. She pulled out her blasted and fired at the droid.
“There’ll be more where that came from,” she said as she stuffed her blaster back into her blaster holder.
She looked up and spotted a boy with brown, blonde hair talking to his companion. She could sense the Force around the boy with brown, blond hair.
“Hello,” she said. “Who are you?”
The moment Ash felt the touch through the Force. He cut himself out of the Force. He did not realize it, but they left they bubble of Force protection.
“Okay, everyone, to the top of the building. We assault it rather than wait. There is a Jedi in there, so be careful. I go in first, Char follow behind. Loe, stay here and watch over us. Kan. Noel. Come with us. Stay on your toes.”
Ash and Char replaced their helmets. Then the four cladded figures engaged their jetpacks, rocketing to the rooftop, and from there, a door. All but Ash had a blaster rifle in their hands; has had a DL-44 blaster pistol in one hand, and a lightsaber in the other.
Kayla sighed as she thought, How can one disconnect themselves from the Force like that? No matter I have other plans for them.
Kayla used the Force to take Ash, Char, and the other people’s weapons and lightsabers from them and she hid. Then out of nowhere a cable launcher came through the air and wrapped around Ash and the others and little did they know it was Kayla Solo a.k.a. Sabe. She had a piece of cloth wrapped around her face so you wouldn't recognize her and her hood was raised.
“Now,” she said. “I bet that will be the last time you let your guard down Jedi.”
“What you don’t know, is that you are in very big trouble now,” Ash said.
Eight silver blades could be heard activating behind the girl. Vapor leaked off the blades, giving them a ghostly appearance. What was odd about the Jedi were that they were exactly the same; they were Force clones of Ash. They could not use the Force, but they could not be felt because though they had a solid form, were not really there. It does not make them any less dangerous, for each one had the skill Ash had, and when they go, Ash gains their knowledge.
“Now, remove what weapons you have and that face covering and step back before you get hurt.”
A clone of Ash materialized behind the Mandalorians, and cut them out with his lightsaber. No one knew who they were with their masks on, and if someone did see Ash or Char without their masks, they would not know their identity.
The black clad Ash flexed his shoulder, and brought out the other half of his lightsaber, but did not ignite it. Char did likewise, but ignited his blue blade. With Ash's help, Char made his own lightsaber after failing becoming a Jedi. Black visors looked at the woman.
Kayla raised an eyebrow up at Ash and snapped, “I may be in trouble, but you don’t know me very well, hotshot.”
Kayla swiftly raised her hand using the Force to take the eight blades and they ended up getting stuck in the wall.
Great, Kayla thought. Now I have a big mess to clean up.
She removed her face covering and a mischievous grin formed on her face and her dark brown eyes flickered.
“Now before you can get your weapon back, who are you?” she asked.
“I always have a weapon, but because I know that you mean no harm, I will tell you who I am. I am Ash Lightning, Mandalorian leader. You are a Jedi, and not the target we are seeking.”
Using the Force, he grabbed his lightsaber hilt from the woman, his hidden yellow eyes looking at her as it flew to his open left hand. Char did likewise with the blasters; him grabbing the pistol, and the other two Mandos grabbing the rifles. No one moved after that, and no one removed their helmets. A single red lazier dot pinned itself on the woman. Loe had her in hits sites, and waited for the signal that would never come.
Kayla titled her head to the side and said, “My name’s Kayla Solo. And is that your friend up there or who you are chasing? Whoever they are they are not using me for target practice and they won’t survive if they leave the building. Now what’s your plan for getting out of here?”
“He won’t do anything without my word, I can assure you that. If we wanted to get out of here, we would walk out. Tell me, is there a Rodian here by the name if Gorolu?” Ash said.
Ash stowed his lightsabers in a pocket hidden on his leg, and took his blaster rifle on his back. Char handed Ash his blaster and that went to its hoister on his thigh. The Twi'lek took his rifle back, and held it at the ready. Ash still held himself out of the Force, hiding from this force user and any others in the area.
“I haven’t run into a Rodian named Gorolu,” she said as she looked at Ash. “So whose your friends?”
“Who they are is not important right now. Tell me, are there any Rodians here?” Ash asked.
A blink of his eye and Ash brought up a readout of the entire building. He tracked them, and all the other life-forms. There weren't many, which was unsurprising, because this was old and the lower levels were falling apart.
Kayla blinked and said, “Apparently you already know where they are hotshot, but if you want to gain access to the lower levels you are gonna need a code clearance to get by, or a data chip to bypass the security check point.”
She reached into a pouch on her utility belt. Before she handed it to him she asked, “Before I give it to you now you tell me why the Rodians are important?”
“He is a bounty. $10,000 for him alive. Half that if he is dead. I don’t need a chip to get around this area. I have the entire building hooked up to my HUD. I can go anywhere here and no one would know. The bounty is three floor’s under us and......... He is dead....... And now tagged.”
A smile touched Ash’s face, but was unseen. Loe killed the Rodian, who was unlucky to get near a window, and $5,000 credits was sent to Ash’s account, all at the speed of light. Ash blinked, bringing a readout of his account. The transaction was completed, and it showed in the readout. An extra $10,000 was sent to his account with the rise of stocks on some planet.
“So, what brings you to Cloud City, and even better, to this slice of heaven,” he asked.
Kayla smiled and said, “Yeah this place may be a slice of heaven, but I prefer Coruscant over this place any day. I would’ve been back there if I hadn’t run into a bounty hunter who stole my ship, but I got my ship back and that's all that matters to me.”
BOOM!
“Then when we head off, you can join us on our ship the B---”
The explosion hit Ash like a brick wall, throwing him across the room. He was lucky enough to hit the wall, and even though he was thrown threw it, it slowed him enough so he would not fly off the edge. The same was for Char and the rest of them.
Even though Ash was mostly okay, his helmet was blown off but remained undamaged nearby. Char was moving. Noah was alive, but out cold, and the last Mandalorian. That was with Ash, the closest to the explosion, was dead. He did not even need a readout to know that; he was missing half his body. He only knew Noah was alive from the rise and fall of his chest.
Ash stood up, supporting himself with the Force as he scanned for Kayla.
Kayla coughed grit and dust out of her lungs. She felt a pain shoot through the right side of her rib cage. She had been using the Force to heal herself up to the point of the explosion. She placed her hand to her side and realized that blood was oozing from her side. She knew the reason why it was starting to gush out like it did because she overdone it.
Ash shook his head, brown hair astray. It fell around his shoulders, and blood pasted it to the side of his head. A cut just above his hairline letting blood gush out, running over his left eye and down his neck. He kept it close so as not to get any blood in it. A quick scan showed where the woman was. She was wounded and bad by how the blood was gushing out of her. Ash was not the greatest medic, but he could patch her up if it was bad enough. He stumbled over to her, being careful as to not to fall on the shifting ground.
“C’mon. It’s time to get out of here. Can you walk? Char! Get an air speeder over here!”
Loe landed nearby, next to Noah. A nod of his head told Ash that he was alive. Ash helped support Kayla.
“Of course I can walk. I made it this far before blood started gushing out of me didn’t I?” she asked. “But I wouldn’t advise it unless you want to carry a dead body.” She grinned slightly at her own joke.
Kayla leaned against Ash, knowing no way in hell could she walk to the speeder. Before she knew it her knees buckled from under her and she collapsed.
The gentle hum of an air speeder could be heard coming from the setting sun. It was still over a minute away as Ash dropped to his knee, still supporting Kayla. Though it might cause her some pain, he picked her up, one arm under her knees, and the other holding her torso.
“Don’t move too much, okay, or you will bleed out before I get you some help.”
Ash felt a pain in his torso; a broken rib. Loe was supporting Noah, who had a hand on his helmeted head. Char had Ash’s helmet in his arm, but his other arm was held awkwardly; broken. Finally, the air speeder came into view.
Kayla smiled slightly and nodded. She could sense that Ash in pain. She placed her right hand on his torso where Ash’s rib was broken at and closed her eyes. She reached into the Force to heal Ash’s broken rib.
“There now you won’t be in so much pain,” she said.
“I would have been fine. We should take care of you first. With what looks you have, you must be in a lot of pain.”
As Ash watched the air speeder land, he started to infuse his own Force connection with Kayla, giving her energy so she could heal.
When the air speeder landed, Ash and Kayla were the last two on. It was slightly cramped, but the ride was even. He barely felt them take off and head towards the Blade. The black and red corvette was hidden in a cloud. It would still be a couple of minutes before they reached the corvette, though.
Char finally took off his helmet, green skin paler than normal, due to the large gash on his leg.
“Well, Ash, we were paid, but we lost a good friend. He would be mourned.”
Everyone hung their heads to the dead Mandalorian. As soon as they were safely onboard the Blade’s Edge, the body would be recovered.
Kayla shook her head and said, “That’s not going to work...I done used up a lot of my energy from earlier when I was healing myself. Even if I could I still wouldn’t be healed completely because the bullet’s deep in my ribs.” She closed her eyes and began to reach deeper in the Force.
“We will get you to the 2-1B droid soon. How did you get a bullet in your ribs anyway? Those projectile weapons..... I don’t like them much.”
Ash gave more of his Force energy to Kayla, helping sustain her. He did not want her to go into cardiac arrest. That would be very bad. Ash tightened his grip on her slightly, keeping her from moving too much in the bouncy speeder.
Kayla could feel Ash giving her more Force energy and she opened her eyes.
“I told you that a bounty hunter had stolen my ship,” Kayla said. “I found my ship and the scum bucket that stole it and next thing I knew we were fighting.” She grunted and she was finding it hard to breath. “Somewhere during the duel he pulled out his blaster and I dodged and he got me. I didn’t know the bullet was stuck in me until just a while ago.” She closed her eyes and she passed out.
Ash was surprised that she made it this is far without passing out. Luckily, they made it to the Assassin-class corvette, the Blade’s Edge. This was Ash’s personal starship; over one hundred and fifty meters of pure firepower. As soon as they were in and the door was opened, Ash was out and heading straight for the medical area. He did not have a bacta tank onboard, unfortunately, but the 2-1B was more than enough
Once Ash made it to the room, he set Kayla on a bed. 2-1B was at his side in a moment.
“Sir, I will have her as good as new in no time,” the droid said.
“Good. And 1B, she has a bullet in her, so be sure to remove it before you start to heal her,” Ash ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the droid replied.
Ash leaned up against the wall and waited for 1B to get to work. In time, he had the bullet out and was sewing Kayla up, and making sure she was alright. In the hour that that took, Noah and Char were brought in, and a human doctor was helping them out.
Kayla woke up an hour later and sensed that someone was in the room and she tilted her head slightly to see it was Ash. She wanted to raise up and knew she could not since she was patched up. She propped herself up on her elbows and said, “Well, looks like everyone got a little banged up.”
“Some more than others, consider yourself lucky; two inches lower, and the bullet would have went straight through your heart. We are stuck on Bespin for the next day or so, so get comfortable.”
Ash had his wounds patched up. He was lucky he just had a couple of scratches and a healed rib. Loe was perfect, Char was asleep on the bed, and the same was the same for Noah.
“Try not to do anything to strain yourself for the next couple of hours, or you will reopen your wounds.”
Kayla batted an eyebrow at him and said, “I’m trying to my make myself comfy, but these beds ain’t exactly comfortable. I hate staying still I’ll end up finding some reason to move.”
She lowered the railing on her bed and grabbed the control to adjust the bed’s position. She looked at Ash and said, “Thanks for saving my skin. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t seriously hurt; just the cut above my eye and the rib you healed. You didn’t need to do that, you know. I had worse.”
Ash smiled slightly as Kayla adjusted the bed. He knew how they felt, but the Blade was more of a warship, not a pleasure liner. The bunks were better. Ash and a handful of others had real beds to sleep in; an unneeded but welcomed comfort.
Kayla threw her pillow at Ash.
“We all need help sometimes hotshot. So tell me are you a knight?”
Ash grabbed the pillow out of the air before it hit his face. He tried to use the Force, but the Ysalamiri did not allow him to due to their Force 'bubble': it did not allow the Force to work while they are in it.
“I am a knight. How about you? What’s your rank in the order?”
Ash started to remove the Mandalorian chest plates and arm braces. The black mesh was all he was wearing on his chest.
Kayla yawned and blinked her dark brown eyes. “I’m an apprentice still, but working on my way to becoming a Jedi Knight.”
She raised herself up and groaned softly. “I shouldn’t have stayed lying down so long. You get too stiff.”
Kayla pulled her ponytail out, letting her dark brown curly hair fall to her shoulders. The light on the ship brought out the color of her blonde highlights in her hair. She was still tired from the journey. Then she felt a sharp pain in the lower part of her abdomen.
Oh great, she thought as she gritted her teeth in pain. What else could go possibly wrong?
“You, down, now. Don’t open up your wounds. You will be good as new in no time.”
Ash shook his head, smiling slightly as he put his hair up in a ponytail. Ash was use to it like that anyway. All Kayla had to do was stay in one spot for a day until her wounds were good enough to hold. Ash doubted that she would be able to do even that.
Kayla saw him smile and said, “Not my fault these blasted things are uncomfortable. Don’t worry I won’t let my wound come open. Besides I don’t think I would last three more days if that happened.”
She grinned slightly and she laid back down and rolled on her stomach and sighed.
Ash shook his head, sighing. He bent over and removed the armor grieves on his shins, and his thigh armor. All this was stacked neatly on a bed. Once again, he looked at Kayla, now on her stomach. This prompted a laugh out of Ash.
“I knew that you wouldn’t be able to hold still for any amount of time. Soon you would lay on you back, and then you would be off wandering around the Blade, am I right?”
Kayla rolled her eyes and said, “Maybe. I prefer to be moving around than laying here doing nothing.”
She sighed and reached into her covers and removed her lightsaber. “Well maybe that would explain the uncomforted.” Her lightsaber rolled to the floor.
Ash walked over and retrieved the lightsaber from the floor and examined it. It was well built to his eye, but he did not activate it. He had no need to right then.
“Tell you what, stay there for a while. Then you can move around. I will even show you the full extent of the Blade’s Edge.”
Ash smiled as he removed the last of his armor. Just a black jumpsuit was all Ash was wearing. The mesh was soft and could deflect a glancing blaster bolt.
Kayla smiled and said, “All right, but I ain’t making any promises that I will stay completely still though. Only way that will happen is if you use binder clips.”
She grinned as she stifled a yawn.
“I could, or you could just sleep and it looks like you’re about ready to. That would give me time to change my clothes and get me out of this jumpsuit.”
Ash smiled lazily and leaned against the wall, relaxing as he turned Kayla’s lightsaber in his hands. He threw it up and caught it, adding speed to the turns it did, but he always caught it perfectly, even when it was going blindingly fast.
“If you do that I’d have you on the floor.” Kayla watched as he twirled her saber. She yawned. “Where are you going to put my saber?”
Ash had the lightsaber going fast until he caught it and laid it on a table near Kayla was.
“I was going to put it right there, how’s that?”
Ash smiled at the smart-mouthed remark he made. He stifled a yawn himself before he leaned against the wall again.
Kayla smiled. “That’s fine hotshot. Now give me my pillow back and I may go to sleep.”
Ash tossed it to her, making it easy for her to catch without the aid of the Force. He hated having the Ysalamiri on the ship. They made things difficult for Force-users. Ash did not complain out loud, though, for his skills were more with the lightsaber than anything.
“Anything else your majesty?”
Ash joked and mocked bowed.
Kayla raised an eyebrow at him and said, “Yeah something to drink.”
She looked around the room and asked, “So this is your ship?”
“I’ll have something brought up to you, and yes, this is my pride and joy; the Assassin-class Corellian Corvette, the Blade’s Edge. More commonly called the Blade. It’s both fast and powerful, just like yours truly.”
Ash laughed and walked across the room. When he came back, a glass of water was in his hand, which he handed to Kayla.
“Why you stuck up, half witted, scruffy looking nerf herder,” Kayla said. “You are full of surprises. Thanks.”
She took the glass from him.
Ash slowly looked at Kayla, an odd look on his face made him look both serious and happy.
“Who’s scruffy lookin’?”
Ash turned away before he would let a smile appear on his face.
Kayla drank the rest of her water and sat it down on the table. She rolled her left side and raised herself up gently. She saw the amused look on Ash’s face and laughed softly.
“Cute, hotshot,” she said with a smile. She saw him try to hide his smile and laughed. “No need to hide your smile from me.”
She kicked off her boots and they hit the wall with a thud. She pulled off her black cloak and threw it on the floor. She felt around for her utility belt. “Where’s my, oh here it is.” She grabbed it and sat it down on the table, but instead it fell. Kayla glanced down and flashed Ash a cocky grin. “Looks like you have a mess a pick up.” She grabbed the sheet from under her and tucked herself in. She leaned over the bed and grabbed her cloak. As soon as she laid back in bed she felt one of her stitches come undone. She tucked her left hand under her cover and felt along where her stitches were and felt warm blood oozing out.
Oh crap, she thought. I shouldn’t have done that.
Then she felt a sharp pain in her side and closed her eyes and groaned. She tapped into the Force to slow the blood flow, but she still did not have enough strength to heal herself.
“1B, redo Kayla’s open stitch, will ya?”
“Yes sir.”
The 2-1B unit walked over to Kayla, and had her sit up so he could sew her back up. It took only a couple of seconds for him to do so. When it was finished, he walked away.
“I told ya to take it easy. 1B will clean up the mess, so don’t worry about it. Now relax okay?”
“I’m trying to.”
Kayla lied back down and closed her eyes and fell asleep.
“Sure ya did.”
Ash smiled and left, 1B cleaning up the area quietly. The first thing Ash did was shower and dress in a simple outfit that made him look like a smuggler; black shirt, blue vest, blue pants, black boots, and his plaster pistol on his thigh. Then wandered to the bridge to make sure everything was fine. He would stay here until Kayla woke up.
An hour later Kayla woke up and she raised herself out of bed and looked at herself.
Time for a cleanup, she thought. She got up and walked to the bathroom and cleaned herself up. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and looked at her right side and touched it. It felt weird running her finger down it. She walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and cut where her black shirt was ripped at and slipped it back on. Now the shirt showed some of her stomach. She slipped her boots on and grabbed her utility belt and lightsaber. She walked down to the bridge and found Ash standing there.
“Hey, hotshot,” she said with a cocky grin.
“I’m surprised you’re awake now.... Okay, with your spirit, I guess not, but you should be. Anyway, welcome to the bridge, Kayla. How ya feeling?”
Ash smiled and raised himself from the ground. He and two mechanics were working behind the navigation console. The entire front was removed and wired were hanging out.
“Well, feel up to having a tour of the Blade?”
Ash signaled to the door. He would allow the mechanics to work it out, and besides some stray Mandalorian words, they worked quietly.
“I’m just a little stiff, but other than that I’m feeling a little bit better,” Kayla said with a twisted smile. “It’ll be a while before I can bend over. I don’t want to reopen my side again anytime soon.”
She looked around the room and noticed Ash was at the door and said, “Sure.”
Kayla walked over to the door. She noticed that the ship had wires hanging out.
“Does your ship fall always fall apart when you have people in the med center?” she asked. She meant the comment as a joke.
“This bucket of bolts has no equal in speed and firepower when it comes to smaller capital ships like this. It can take on most any corvette and even some destroyers. With the fighters on board, I can even have this thing take on star destroyers, a very large feet, but the ion cannons have excellent range and can cover most anywhere around the Blade. We were just making some adjustments for more precise jumps.”
Ash realized he was starting to talk too much, and he stopped himself, otherwise he would have told Kayla everything about the Blade. In fact, they were near the hanger now, so he led her to it. Once the pressure door opened, bright lights shone on them, but the four X-83 TwinTail starfighters were silhouetted. They had the same black and red scheme the Blade’s Edge, as well as Ash’s mark on each of the S-Foils. Ash could not help but to smile.
Kayla grinned and said, “I bet this bucket couldn’t outrun my uncle’s ship. His ship is the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. It’s the ship that ran the Kessel in less than three parsecs.”
“You mean the Millennium Falcon? It could only get up to twelve parsec. With the mods we have here, we can get this thing within ten parsecs.”
Ash smiled, walking through the TwinTails quietly admiring their beauty. They were only in the hanger for a couple of minutes before he led the way out.
“Hungry?”
“That’s the one,” she said as she followed him. “What do you have?” she asked.
“Choose what you want.”
Ash walked through a set of doors, right into a cafeteria. There was a menu board on the wall for what the cooks can prepare. Around the rather large room were two groups of Mandalorians; one of humans and a Rodian. The other was a mixture of humans and Twi'leks.
Ash sat himself at a table not far from the counter. The menu could be easily read from where they were sitting. A human walked out from a side door, speaking basic with a Corellian accent. He had a bright smile on his face.
“Welcome back, Ash, and I see you brought a new friend. I’m Lasil, and I am lucky enough to take you order today.”
Kayla looked at the board and said, “I want a slice of pepperoni pizza and a coke.”
“Ya got it. What about you, Ash?”
“How about a cheeseburger?”
“Coming right up you two.”
Lasil bowed slightly and turned, heading through the same door he came through. Ash turned around leaning against the table and looked back at Kayla.
“So tell me, how did you end up on Bespin, and happen to be in the same place as our Rodian friend?”
“I didn’t know there was a Rodian there until I ran into you and you told me,” Kayla said as she pulled her ponytail off her neck. “I flew my ship to Bespin and it just so happened that I ran into a bounty hunter from Orin Del as he was making his getaway, though I wasn’t chasing after him. I was just going to stay one day there and then leave.”
Kayla glanced around the room and back at Ash. “Why were you chasing after a Rodian anyway?”
“Bounty hunting need money for this thing and sometimes a little action is good. Watching the stocks go up and down is no fun for anyone, so there are those of us who watch the stocks one day and bounty hunt for us the next. A man’s ship is his best friend, and the Blade is my base of operations. I can do just about anything here.”
Ash smiled and turned around again. There was a band from the kitchen, and some cursing in Mandalorian that made some of the people in the room laugh. Even Ash laughed. He doubted that Kayla knew what the joke was about.
“Lasil is known for his colorful language. He just cursed the pan that landed on his foot to a thousand deaths, and some other things that I can’t mention. Trust me you don’t want to know what he was saying.”
Ash laughed again.
Kayla tried not to crack a grin, but could not help it. “I don’t think I want to know what he said.”
She looked around the ship. “From the looks of it, hotshot, I say you do a little bit of smuggling.”
“No, we don’t smuggle. In fact, we have a second, smaller hanger that takes up about half the cargo space, so he had to make room for cargo. If you wanna push it, this could be used for smuggling.”
Lasil walked out of the doors, two plates; one with pizza, the other a burger, a cup of soda, and a mug of Lomin Ale, one of Ash’s favorite drinks.
“Here you two go. If you need anything else, just yell for me.”
“Got it, Las.”
“About time it got here. I need my coke because if I don’t then I kick into 'high mantence mood'.” Kayla grinned and grabbed some napkins and took a long sip of her coke and then she took a bite of her pizza.
Ash grabbed his burger and bit into it. The nerf beef was well broiled and the cheese and veggies were fresh. A smile touched his lips again as he sipped his Ale.
“So, what did you want to do once we are finished eating?” Ash asked.
Kayla smiled and said, “That’s a good question, hotshot. One I don’t have an answer to…yet.” She thought for a moment. It was as if you could almost see the gears inside her head turning. “What all needs to be done to this bucket of bolts?”
“Nothing really it just had an overhaul and we were just molding the navigation for a more precise jump into hyperspace.”
Ash thought of what else could be done. They still had to work out the kinks in one of the turbo lasers that were just replaced. Ash never liked those fresh weapons. They always had kinks in them. That was about it, but he did not say anything.
Kayla finished the rest of her pizza and the rest of her coke. “Ash, did you check the hyperdrive before we went into orbit to make sure no one deactivated it?”
“Trust me no one would disable the hyperdrive. Most everyone here is a Mandalorian, and even if someone wanted to, they needed to get past three levels or security and two Mandos before they could even touch the hyperdrive. If you want you could have a peak at it just to show you what goes on inside the action, but no working on it. I don’t want you hurting yourself again.”
Ash downed the last of his Ale, his burger long gone. He rose to his feet, stretching his arms above his head.
Kayla stretched her arms and said, “There’s a first time for everything.”
Then she got up to her feet and added, “It’ll take more than a few stitches to keep me from fixing things.”
She headed down to where the hyperdrive was located at and found an R2 unit and told it to check the hyperdrive. The R2 unit did and Kayla was not pleased when it told her that the hyperdrive was fixed.
There’s bound to be something around here I can fix, she thought as she wandered around on the ship some more.
Ash followed silently behind Kayla as she searched the Blade for something to fix. Like Ash said, there was nothing to work on. A war machine did not have much to work on, because of it needed to be ready for anything.
“Finished your search yet? Like I said, there is nothing to work on.”
“Yeah I’m done now,” Kayla said as she leaned her back against the wall.
“Good. Like I said, there is no problem with the Blade. It’s in top condition.”
Ash leaned against the opposite wall, eyes closed. He felt the day’s effort pound on his head, but he ignored it. When he opened them, Ash’s yellow eyes burned in the light, but there were dark spots under them.
Kayla looked back at Ash and noticed that there were dark circles underneath them. “Why don’t you get some rest? You look tired.” She leaned on her left side and felt a pain run through her right side, but she did not groan. Her dark brown eyes widened, but she quickly closed them.
“I’m fine, but we should get you checked out by 1B again. Once he clears you, you can get a real bed. C’mon.”
Ash took a step away from the wall and waved for Kayla to follow him down to the turbolifts and then to the medical wing where she could get checked out again.
“Haven’t I been checked out enough by a droid for one day?” Kayla grumbled as she seen Ash motion for her to follow him. “Fine, but if that droid says I ain’t cleared I’m moving into the cargo hold and sleeping there.”
“Okay, so would you rather a human check you out?”
Ash could not help but laugh. He was talking about a medical check-up, but the way Ash spoke made it sound like something else.
“A human can check you out, but most likely 1B is going to make sure you’re okay.”
Yup, Ash reached rock bottom as exhaustion hit him hard. It did not show, but he felt it.
Kayla rolled her eyes and said, “Fine the droid it is then. Unless you happen to be a doctor---” She felt another sharp pain and stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes. She knew that she should not have got up and did a lot of walking around.
Ash was next to Kayla in a second, once he noticed that she was in pain. He placed an arm around her shoulders, helping to support her.
“You alright?”
Ash wished that he could use the Force right then, but because of the Ysalamiri, he could not, so he could not feel what was giving Kayla pain.
“I think so,” Kayla said as she caught her breath. “I think I overdone it by walking too much. It’s just that the stitches…I think are tightening up. If I could use the Force it wouldn’t be so…painful.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Why can’t we use the Force anyways?”
Ash walked slowly forward, supporting Kayla.
“We have furry lizards onboard that block all of the Force. I won’t tell you why we have them onboard, though. It’s not likely you would figure it out anyway.”
They made it to the turbolift and the doors opened smoothly for them. Ash punched in the second floor button and a couple of seconds later, the doors opened again. They were close to the medical wing now.
“Why have them onboard if they block the Force?” she asked as tears stung her eyes. Kayla blinked them back as she yawned and fell asleep.
Ash smiled and picked Kayla up like he did earlier, and carried her the rest of the way to the medical wing, where 2-1B met them.
“Look her over 1B, but don’t wake her. I’m going to get some sleep myself, so wake me via comlink when Kayla wakes up, okay?”
“Yes sir.”
Ash yawned and left, heading to an upper level floor, where his room was at, kicked off his boots, and laid on his bed. Moments later, he was asleep.
Kayla stirred only one time before 2-1B looked over her and that was to kick off her boots and cloak. When 2-1B checked her over she did not wake up. She was tired and needed all the rest she could get.
Char Vai walked to the bridge, bored. He awoken from the medical not too long ago and wanted to make sure that they were still well hidden. Well, they were fine and hidden. The emerald Twi'lek sighed. He was almost hoping for danger, but like always, there was going to be nothing. For a second, he wondered where Ash was, but dropped the thought, left for his room, and once there, went to sleep again; wanting to get rid of the aches and pains from the blast.
About four hours later, Kayla felt another sharp pain that caused her to wake up and she yelped in pain, grabbing hold of the bed rail and closing her eyes. The pain was coming from side where her stitches were and she could feel the three broken ribs and one of the fractured ones.
1B walked from the back of the room to Kayla.
“Is there a problem? Would you like some pain relievers for any pain that you may be feeling?”
A small whirling sound came from 1B as he shifted to a different vile on his arm hypodermic attachment.
“Yeah,” Kayla said. She did not want to have another operation if her ribs were broke. She waited for the droid to give some medicine.
With a gently touch, 1B took Kayla’s upper arm in his clawed hand and brought it up, where the needle was inserted into her vein. The drug would work fast, and should hold her up for at least twelve hours.
“You should stay here for the next half hour at least, for the reliever to fully work. Then I shall alert Ash that you are awake.”
1B turned and walked off.
Kayla did not watch when 1-B stuck her with the needle, though her eyes widened when he stuck her. She hated getting shots just as much as she hated being in the med center. She felt another sharp pain and closed her eyes and waited for the pain medicine to work hopefully.
Ash awoken in what seem liked five minutes. Still half asleep, he washed his face off with warm water, and was instantly feeling better. A change of clothes into something similar but still clean, and he left his room, heading to the medical center to check on Kayla, and Noah, who should still be in there.
Kayla tried to sit up, but she felt a sharp pain near the right side of her rib cage that made her groan. She managed to take off her utility belt and moved it out of the way. She adjusted her head on her pillow and sighed.
Ash walked into the medical wing, and at first glance, thought Kayla was asleep. With a shrug, he walked around the room to where Noah was. He was also asleep, and the vital readouts next to him showed that he would be fine, with a broken arm and rip, and a fractured one also. Ash shook his head and walked to another human in the room, who was also asleep. He was just sick and there for the night.
Kayla opened her eyes and noticed Ash was in the room. She forced a smile on her face and said, “Hey, hotshot. What are you doing up?”
“I’m just checking up on the going-on round the Blade. So, have a nice nap?”
Ash smiled and walked over, leaning against the wall like earlier. Ash was making sure everyone was okay before they went to hyperspace for Coruscant. They spent enough time on Bespin.
Kayla shook her head. “I thought I was going to have to kill your droid for sticking me earlier. So where are we going---” She stopped in midsentence as she felt a sharp pain underneath her torso and she gripped the bed rail and closed her eyes.
Ash was next to Kayla in a split second. She did not look so good right then.
“Now we are going to Coruscant so you can have a bacta dip. I also need to speak to Master Jexz. He might have a mission for me, so I doubt that you would be coming with us after my meeting. You should go back to sleep.”
Kayla’s dark brown eyes glared at Ash with great indignity. “I may be feeling better before we even get there for all you know hotshot.” She did not like the idea of being stuck in a med center on Coruscant. Matter of fact she despised that.
“Then do what you want on Coruscant, it doesn’t matter much to me.”
Ash stepped back, his back against the wall as he looked at Kayla. His yellow eyes had some indifferent look in them, hard to place. To take up his mind, he flipped one of his lightsaber hilts in his hand, getting it to spin fast.
“I do what I want anyways,” Kayla said as she got up out of bed and grabbed her boots and slipped them on. Then she grabbed her utility belt and put it back around her waist and she grabbed her cloak and slipped it back on. She had a slight headache and needed to clear her head and she headed for the door.
Ash shrugged and followed Kayla out the door, but left for the cockpit. It was a short walk down the hallways, and everyone looked up when Ash entered.
“Alright, set course for Coruscant. We’re getting out of here.”
There was some cheering then the pilots and navigation officer set in the course for the modernized planet. It would still be about two hundred and ninety minutes before they actually left Bespin’s gravity well, so he decided to look for Kayla and have her buckle down somewhere.
Kayla did not wander too far around the ship. She walked down to the control room and found a window and sat down in a chair and watched the stars fly by. The pain medicine that 1-B gave her was helping her and she was feeling better. She closed her eyes and rubbed the side of her temple with her fingers. She had a slight headache and the reason she was down her was because the sound of engines firing up got rid of her headaches better than anything else.
The control room door slid silently open, letting in Ash. It was only about five minutes later after he gave the command to leave, and the engines were fired up. In five minutes, they would be moving, and in another ten, they would be away to Coruscant.
“Better buckle up, we will be leaving in a couple of minutes, and you wouldn’t want to get flattened somewhere, would you?”
Kayla opened her eyes and said, “That can happen even if you are buckled up.” She buckled herself up. “How did you I was up this way anyway?”
“Lucky guess. I was just wandering around making sure everyone was ready for the hyperspace travel. I doubt that would happen, but it’s always safe to buckle up. Besides, what if you don’t buckle up and end up splattered all over the room?”
Ash laughed and sat down next to Kayla. He did not buckle up yet, though. The engines were still warming up, but the sleek corvette would be off soon.
“Then you would have to clean up the mess I leave behind,” she said with a grin.
“Eh, I would let the cleaning staff do that. They are among the only non Mandalorians on board. At least they think the pay is good.”
Ash laughed again, and felt the Blade start to move. The engines revved up, and the acceleration was like a wall. Ash almost slipped, but caught himself.
“See what I mean about the engines?”
Kayla laughed. “Yeah I see what you mean, hotshot. So let’s see what this bucket of bolts can do.”
“She won’t show her true colors until we get into a battle. This thing could disable a ship with her ion cannons and rip it to shreds with her turbolasers.”
Ash sat himself upright again and buckled up. Normally, he would be on the bridge now, but they could handle themselves with the chief of security, and unofficial third in command.
Kayla adjusted the straps on her chair and pulled them behind her and relaxed. She leaned back in the chair and said, “I’m feeling better than I was earlier.”
“That’s good and it looks like we are about to take off for hyperspace.”
Ash leaned back as he felt inertia take over, and they were away from Bespin.
The End and Enjoy ;D!
Author: Saber
Hunted or Hunted?
Genre: One Shot Action
Rating: PG-13
Author’s Note: For the record this is based off a Role Play I did on Enter the Force with another member and I turned this into a Fan fiction story for Rev’s One shot challenge I do not own any of the characters or places in my story. The planets belong to the creator of Enter The Force Kel . The characters belong to Ash Lightning. The only character I own is the one that I created for ETF and that is Kayla Sabrina Solo.
“Ah, Cloud City, the ablate mole of the Republic. It’s a waste of time being here, Ash,” Char said.
“Cool it, Char. We will have our man soon,” Ash said.
Five people in Mandalorian armor stood on an overhang. All were chrome plated; three with green trim, one with blue, and one black with deep blue trim. Ash was in the black one; Char, Ash’s second in command, had the blue trim. All the Mandalorians had a sniper rifle pointed a door, a window, the roof, and at two different walkways, waiting for a target.
It was a simple bounty of a Rodian who owed a large sum of money to a hut, and one of Ash’s and Char’s guys had them on a mission. Unknown but to Ash, and partly to Char, was that this would hopefully be where they found the trail of Shino. After Myrkr, they traveled around for this Rodian bounty.
“I have action up here.”
Four rifles zoomed in on a window, the one where the fifth was watching. A human sniper spotted him. This human was Ash's best sniper, next to Ash who could use the force for help, but he and Char were still within the range of the Ysalamiri that were stowed on the Blade.
Kayla Sabrina Solo poked her head about and looked at the scene. “Let’s just blast these guys and get out of here.”
“Hold up, that’s not our target. Mando’s, hold your fire.”
All the Mandalorians back away, but they never looked away from the window. The overhand was dimly lit by the dipping sun, but they had to have been seen anyway.
A couple more steps and the Mandalorians were behind a wall. They shook their heads, but one, a green trimmed one, kept lookout, watching the building for anything. He minimized his hit ratio by laying on the walkway, looking through his scope.
Ash removed his helmet, brown, blonde hair pasted to his head. After a moment, Char did the same, his blue trimmed helmet hiding his Leku.
“What happened, Char?” Ash asked.
“I don’t know. We could have the wrong building. It’s hard to tell from here,” Char replied.
Kayla Solo leaned against the wall and watched as a droid carrying a blaster was about to shoot. She pulled out her blasted and fired at the droid.
“There’ll be more where that came from,” she said as she stuffed her blaster back into her blaster holder.
She looked up and spotted a boy with brown, blonde hair talking to his companion. She could sense the Force around the boy with brown, blond hair.
“Hello,” she said. “Who are you?”
The moment Ash felt the touch through the Force. He cut himself out of the Force. He did not realize it, but they left they bubble of Force protection.
“Okay, everyone, to the top of the building. We assault it rather than wait. There is a Jedi in there, so be careful. I go in first, Char follow behind. Loe, stay here and watch over us. Kan. Noel. Come with us. Stay on your toes.”
Ash and Char replaced their helmets. Then the four cladded figures engaged their jetpacks, rocketing to the rooftop, and from there, a door. All but Ash had a blaster rifle in their hands; has had a DL-44 blaster pistol in one hand, and a lightsaber in the other.
Kayla sighed as she thought, How can one disconnect themselves from the Force like that? No matter I have other plans for them.
Kayla used the Force to take Ash, Char, and the other people’s weapons and lightsabers from them and she hid. Then out of nowhere a cable launcher came through the air and wrapped around Ash and the others and little did they know it was Kayla Solo a.k.a. Sabe. She had a piece of cloth wrapped around her face so you wouldn't recognize her and her hood was raised.
“Now,” she said. “I bet that will be the last time you let your guard down Jedi.”
“What you don’t know, is that you are in very big trouble now,” Ash said.
Eight silver blades could be heard activating behind the girl. Vapor leaked off the blades, giving them a ghostly appearance. What was odd about the Jedi were that they were exactly the same; they were Force clones of Ash. They could not use the Force, but they could not be felt because though they had a solid form, were not really there. It does not make them any less dangerous, for each one had the skill Ash had, and when they go, Ash gains their knowledge.
“Now, remove what weapons you have and that face covering and step back before you get hurt.”
A clone of Ash materialized behind the Mandalorians, and cut them out with his lightsaber. No one knew who they were with their masks on, and if someone did see Ash or Char without their masks, they would not know their identity.
The black clad Ash flexed his shoulder, and brought out the other half of his lightsaber, but did not ignite it. Char did likewise, but ignited his blue blade. With Ash's help, Char made his own lightsaber after failing becoming a Jedi. Black visors looked at the woman.
Kayla raised an eyebrow up at Ash and snapped, “I may be in trouble, but you don’t know me very well, hotshot.”
Kayla swiftly raised her hand using the Force to take the eight blades and they ended up getting stuck in the wall.
Great, Kayla thought. Now I have a big mess to clean up.
She removed her face covering and a mischievous grin formed on her face and her dark brown eyes flickered.
“Now before you can get your weapon back, who are you?” she asked.
“I always have a weapon, but because I know that you mean no harm, I will tell you who I am. I am Ash Lightning, Mandalorian leader. You are a Jedi, and not the target we are seeking.”
Using the Force, he grabbed his lightsaber hilt from the woman, his hidden yellow eyes looking at her as it flew to his open left hand. Char did likewise with the blasters; him grabbing the pistol, and the other two Mandos grabbing the rifles. No one moved after that, and no one removed their helmets. A single red lazier dot pinned itself on the woman. Loe had her in hits sites, and waited for the signal that would never come.
Kayla titled her head to the side and said, “My name’s Kayla Solo. And is that your friend up there or who you are chasing? Whoever they are they are not using me for target practice and they won’t survive if they leave the building. Now what’s your plan for getting out of here?”
“He won’t do anything without my word, I can assure you that. If we wanted to get out of here, we would walk out. Tell me, is there a Rodian here by the name if Gorolu?” Ash said.
Ash stowed his lightsabers in a pocket hidden on his leg, and took his blaster rifle on his back. Char handed Ash his blaster and that went to its hoister on his thigh. The Twi'lek took his rifle back, and held it at the ready. Ash still held himself out of the Force, hiding from this force user and any others in the area.
“I haven’t run into a Rodian named Gorolu,” she said as she looked at Ash. “So whose your friends?”
“Who they are is not important right now. Tell me, are there any Rodians here?” Ash asked.
A blink of his eye and Ash brought up a readout of the entire building. He tracked them, and all the other life-forms. There weren't many, which was unsurprising, because this was old and the lower levels were falling apart.
Kayla blinked and said, “Apparently you already know where they are hotshot, but if you want to gain access to the lower levels you are gonna need a code clearance to get by, or a data chip to bypass the security check point.”
She reached into a pouch on her utility belt. Before she handed it to him she asked, “Before I give it to you now you tell me why the Rodians are important?”
“He is a bounty. $10,000 for him alive. Half that if he is dead. I don’t need a chip to get around this area. I have the entire building hooked up to my HUD. I can go anywhere here and no one would know. The bounty is three floor’s under us and......... He is dead....... And now tagged.”
A smile touched Ash’s face, but was unseen. Loe killed the Rodian, who was unlucky to get near a window, and $5,000 credits was sent to Ash’s account, all at the speed of light. Ash blinked, bringing a readout of his account. The transaction was completed, and it showed in the readout. An extra $10,000 was sent to his account with the rise of stocks on some planet.
“So, what brings you to Cloud City, and even better, to this slice of heaven,” he asked.
Kayla smiled and said, “Yeah this place may be a slice of heaven, but I prefer Coruscant over this place any day. I would’ve been back there if I hadn’t run into a bounty hunter who stole my ship, but I got my ship back and that's all that matters to me.”
BOOM!
“Then when we head off, you can join us on our ship the B---”
The explosion hit Ash like a brick wall, throwing him across the room. He was lucky enough to hit the wall, and even though he was thrown threw it, it slowed him enough so he would not fly off the edge. The same was for Char and the rest of them.
Even though Ash was mostly okay, his helmet was blown off but remained undamaged nearby. Char was moving. Noah was alive, but out cold, and the last Mandalorian. That was with Ash, the closest to the explosion, was dead. He did not even need a readout to know that; he was missing half his body. He only knew Noah was alive from the rise and fall of his chest.
Ash stood up, supporting himself with the Force as he scanned for Kayla.
Kayla coughed grit and dust out of her lungs. She felt a pain shoot through the right side of her rib cage. She had been using the Force to heal herself up to the point of the explosion. She placed her hand to her side and realized that blood was oozing from her side. She knew the reason why it was starting to gush out like it did because she overdone it.
Ash shook his head, brown hair astray. It fell around his shoulders, and blood pasted it to the side of his head. A cut just above his hairline letting blood gush out, running over his left eye and down his neck. He kept it close so as not to get any blood in it. A quick scan showed where the woman was. She was wounded and bad by how the blood was gushing out of her. Ash was not the greatest medic, but he could patch her up if it was bad enough. He stumbled over to her, being careful as to not to fall on the shifting ground.
“C’mon. It’s time to get out of here. Can you walk? Char! Get an air speeder over here!”
Loe landed nearby, next to Noah. A nod of his head told Ash that he was alive. Ash helped support Kayla.
“Of course I can walk. I made it this far before blood started gushing out of me didn’t I?” she asked. “But I wouldn’t advise it unless you want to carry a dead body.” She grinned slightly at her own joke.
Kayla leaned against Ash, knowing no way in hell could she walk to the speeder. Before she knew it her knees buckled from under her and she collapsed.
The gentle hum of an air speeder could be heard coming from the setting sun. It was still over a minute away as Ash dropped to his knee, still supporting Kayla. Though it might cause her some pain, he picked her up, one arm under her knees, and the other holding her torso.
“Don’t move too much, okay, or you will bleed out before I get you some help.”
Ash felt a pain in his torso; a broken rib. Loe was supporting Noah, who had a hand on his helmeted head. Char had Ash’s helmet in his arm, but his other arm was held awkwardly; broken. Finally, the air speeder came into view.
Kayla smiled slightly and nodded. She could sense that Ash in pain. She placed her right hand on his torso where Ash’s rib was broken at and closed her eyes. She reached into the Force to heal Ash’s broken rib.
“There now you won’t be in so much pain,” she said.
“I would have been fine. We should take care of you first. With what looks you have, you must be in a lot of pain.”
As Ash watched the air speeder land, he started to infuse his own Force connection with Kayla, giving her energy so she could heal.
When the air speeder landed, Ash and Kayla were the last two on. It was slightly cramped, but the ride was even. He barely felt them take off and head towards the Blade. The black and red corvette was hidden in a cloud. It would still be a couple of minutes before they reached the corvette, though.
Char finally took off his helmet, green skin paler than normal, due to the large gash on his leg.
“Well, Ash, we were paid, but we lost a good friend. He would be mourned.”
Everyone hung their heads to the dead Mandalorian. As soon as they were safely onboard the Blade’s Edge, the body would be recovered.
Kayla shook her head and said, “That’s not going to work...I done used up a lot of my energy from earlier when I was healing myself. Even if I could I still wouldn’t be healed completely because the bullet’s deep in my ribs.” She closed her eyes and began to reach deeper in the Force.
“We will get you to the 2-1B droid soon. How did you get a bullet in your ribs anyway? Those projectile weapons..... I don’t like them much.”
Ash gave more of his Force energy to Kayla, helping sustain her. He did not want her to go into cardiac arrest. That would be very bad. Ash tightened his grip on her slightly, keeping her from moving too much in the bouncy speeder.
Kayla could feel Ash giving her more Force energy and she opened her eyes.
“I told you that a bounty hunter had stolen my ship,” Kayla said. “I found my ship and the scum bucket that stole it and next thing I knew we were fighting.” She grunted and she was finding it hard to breath. “Somewhere during the duel he pulled out his blaster and I dodged and he got me. I didn’t know the bullet was stuck in me until just a while ago.” She closed her eyes and she passed out.
Ash was surprised that she made it this is far without passing out. Luckily, they made it to the Assassin-class corvette, the Blade’s Edge. This was Ash’s personal starship; over one hundred and fifty meters of pure firepower. As soon as they were in and the door was opened, Ash was out and heading straight for the medical area. He did not have a bacta tank onboard, unfortunately, but the 2-1B was more than enough
Once Ash made it to the room, he set Kayla on a bed. 2-1B was at his side in a moment.
“Sir, I will have her as good as new in no time,” the droid said.
“Good. And 1B, she has a bullet in her, so be sure to remove it before you start to heal her,” Ash ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the droid replied.
Ash leaned up against the wall and waited for 1B to get to work. In time, he had the bullet out and was sewing Kayla up, and making sure she was alright. In the hour that that took, Noah and Char were brought in, and a human doctor was helping them out.
Kayla woke up an hour later and sensed that someone was in the room and she tilted her head slightly to see it was Ash. She wanted to raise up and knew she could not since she was patched up. She propped herself up on her elbows and said, “Well, looks like everyone got a little banged up.”
“Some more than others, consider yourself lucky; two inches lower, and the bullet would have went straight through your heart. We are stuck on Bespin for the next day or so, so get comfortable.”
Ash had his wounds patched up. He was lucky he just had a couple of scratches and a healed rib. Loe was perfect, Char was asleep on the bed, and the same was the same for Noah.
“Try not to do anything to strain yourself for the next couple of hours, or you will reopen your wounds.”
Kayla batted an eyebrow at him and said, “I’m trying to my make myself comfy, but these beds ain’t exactly comfortable. I hate staying still I’ll end up finding some reason to move.”
She lowered the railing on her bed and grabbed the control to adjust the bed’s position. She looked at Ash and said, “Thanks for saving my skin. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t seriously hurt; just the cut above my eye and the rib you healed. You didn’t need to do that, you know. I had worse.”
Ash smiled slightly as Kayla adjusted the bed. He knew how they felt, but the Blade was more of a warship, not a pleasure liner. The bunks were better. Ash and a handful of others had real beds to sleep in; an unneeded but welcomed comfort.
Kayla threw her pillow at Ash.
“We all need help sometimes hotshot. So tell me are you a knight?”
Ash grabbed the pillow out of the air before it hit his face. He tried to use the Force, but the Ysalamiri did not allow him to due to their Force 'bubble': it did not allow the Force to work while they are in it.
“I am a knight. How about you? What’s your rank in the order?”
Ash started to remove the Mandalorian chest plates and arm braces. The black mesh was all he was wearing on his chest.
Kayla yawned and blinked her dark brown eyes. “I’m an apprentice still, but working on my way to becoming a Jedi Knight.”
She raised herself up and groaned softly. “I shouldn’t have stayed lying down so long. You get too stiff.”
Kayla pulled her ponytail out, letting her dark brown curly hair fall to her shoulders. The light on the ship brought out the color of her blonde highlights in her hair. She was still tired from the journey. Then she felt a sharp pain in the lower part of her abdomen.
Oh great, she thought as she gritted her teeth in pain. What else could go possibly wrong?
“You, down, now. Don’t open up your wounds. You will be good as new in no time.”
Ash shook his head, smiling slightly as he put his hair up in a ponytail. Ash was use to it like that anyway. All Kayla had to do was stay in one spot for a day until her wounds were good enough to hold. Ash doubted that she would be able to do even that.
Kayla saw him smile and said, “Not my fault these blasted things are uncomfortable. Don’t worry I won’t let my wound come open. Besides I don’t think I would last three more days if that happened.”
She grinned slightly and she laid back down and rolled on her stomach and sighed.
Ash shook his head, sighing. He bent over and removed the armor grieves on his shins, and his thigh armor. All this was stacked neatly on a bed. Once again, he looked at Kayla, now on her stomach. This prompted a laugh out of Ash.
“I knew that you wouldn’t be able to hold still for any amount of time. Soon you would lay on you back, and then you would be off wandering around the Blade, am I right?”
Kayla rolled her eyes and said, “Maybe. I prefer to be moving around than laying here doing nothing.”
She sighed and reached into her covers and removed her lightsaber. “Well maybe that would explain the uncomforted.” Her lightsaber rolled to the floor.
Ash walked over and retrieved the lightsaber from the floor and examined it. It was well built to his eye, but he did not activate it. He had no need to right then.
“Tell you what, stay there for a while. Then you can move around. I will even show you the full extent of the Blade’s Edge.”
Ash smiled as he removed the last of his armor. Just a black jumpsuit was all Ash was wearing. The mesh was soft and could deflect a glancing blaster bolt.
Kayla smiled and said, “All right, but I ain’t making any promises that I will stay completely still though. Only way that will happen is if you use binder clips.”
She grinned as she stifled a yawn.
“I could, or you could just sleep and it looks like you’re about ready to. That would give me time to change my clothes and get me out of this jumpsuit.”
Ash smiled lazily and leaned against the wall, relaxing as he turned Kayla’s lightsaber in his hands. He threw it up and caught it, adding speed to the turns it did, but he always caught it perfectly, even when it was going blindingly fast.
“If you do that I’d have you on the floor.” Kayla watched as he twirled her saber. She yawned. “Where are you going to put my saber?”
Ash had the lightsaber going fast until he caught it and laid it on a table near Kayla was.
“I was going to put it right there, how’s that?”
Ash smiled at the smart-mouthed remark he made. He stifled a yawn himself before he leaned against the wall again.
Kayla smiled. “That’s fine hotshot. Now give me my pillow back and I may go to sleep.”
Ash tossed it to her, making it easy for her to catch without the aid of the Force. He hated having the Ysalamiri on the ship. They made things difficult for Force-users. Ash did not complain out loud, though, for his skills were more with the lightsaber than anything.
“Anything else your majesty?”
Ash joked and mocked bowed.
Kayla raised an eyebrow at him and said, “Yeah something to drink.”
She looked around the room and asked, “So this is your ship?”
“I’ll have something brought up to you, and yes, this is my pride and joy; the Assassin-class Corellian Corvette, the Blade’s Edge. More commonly called the Blade. It’s both fast and powerful, just like yours truly.”
Ash laughed and walked across the room. When he came back, a glass of water was in his hand, which he handed to Kayla.
“Why you stuck up, half witted, scruffy looking nerf herder,” Kayla said. “You are full of surprises. Thanks.”
She took the glass from him.
Ash slowly looked at Kayla, an odd look on his face made him look both serious and happy.
“Who’s scruffy lookin’?”
Ash turned away before he would let a smile appear on his face.
Kayla drank the rest of her water and sat it down on the table. She rolled her left side and raised herself up gently. She saw the amused look on Ash’s face and laughed softly.
“Cute, hotshot,” she said with a smile. She saw him try to hide his smile and laughed. “No need to hide your smile from me.”
She kicked off her boots and they hit the wall with a thud. She pulled off her black cloak and threw it on the floor. She felt around for her utility belt. “Where’s my, oh here it is.” She grabbed it and sat it down on the table, but instead it fell. Kayla glanced down and flashed Ash a cocky grin. “Looks like you have a mess a pick up.” She grabbed the sheet from under her and tucked herself in. She leaned over the bed and grabbed her cloak. As soon as she laid back in bed she felt one of her stitches come undone. She tucked her left hand under her cover and felt along where her stitches were and felt warm blood oozing out.
Oh crap, she thought. I shouldn’t have done that.
Then she felt a sharp pain in her side and closed her eyes and groaned. She tapped into the Force to slow the blood flow, but she still did not have enough strength to heal herself.
“1B, redo Kayla’s open stitch, will ya?”
“Yes sir.”
The 2-1B unit walked over to Kayla, and had her sit up so he could sew her back up. It took only a couple of seconds for him to do so. When it was finished, he walked away.
“I told ya to take it easy. 1B will clean up the mess, so don’t worry about it. Now relax okay?”
“I’m trying to.”
Kayla lied back down and closed her eyes and fell asleep.
“Sure ya did.”
Ash smiled and left, 1B cleaning up the area quietly. The first thing Ash did was shower and dress in a simple outfit that made him look like a smuggler; black shirt, blue vest, blue pants, black boots, and his plaster pistol on his thigh. Then wandered to the bridge to make sure everything was fine. He would stay here until Kayla woke up.
An hour later Kayla woke up and she raised herself out of bed and looked at herself.
Time for a cleanup, she thought. She got up and walked to the bathroom and cleaned herself up. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and looked at her right side and touched it. It felt weird running her finger down it. She walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and cut where her black shirt was ripped at and slipped it back on. Now the shirt showed some of her stomach. She slipped her boots on and grabbed her utility belt and lightsaber. She walked down to the bridge and found Ash standing there.
“Hey, hotshot,” she said with a cocky grin.
“I’m surprised you’re awake now.... Okay, with your spirit, I guess not, but you should be. Anyway, welcome to the bridge, Kayla. How ya feeling?”
Ash smiled and raised himself from the ground. He and two mechanics were working behind the navigation console. The entire front was removed and wired were hanging out.
“Well, feel up to having a tour of the Blade?”
Ash signaled to the door. He would allow the mechanics to work it out, and besides some stray Mandalorian words, they worked quietly.
“I’m just a little stiff, but other than that I’m feeling a little bit better,” Kayla said with a twisted smile. “It’ll be a while before I can bend over. I don’t want to reopen my side again anytime soon.”
She looked around the room and noticed Ash was at the door and said, “Sure.”
Kayla walked over to the door. She noticed that the ship had wires hanging out.
“Does your ship fall always fall apart when you have people in the med center?” she asked. She meant the comment as a joke.
“This bucket of bolts has no equal in speed and firepower when it comes to smaller capital ships like this. It can take on most any corvette and even some destroyers. With the fighters on board, I can even have this thing take on star destroyers, a very large feet, but the ion cannons have excellent range and can cover most anywhere around the Blade. We were just making some adjustments for more precise jumps.”
Ash realized he was starting to talk too much, and he stopped himself, otherwise he would have told Kayla everything about the Blade. In fact, they were near the hanger now, so he led her to it. Once the pressure door opened, bright lights shone on them, but the four X-83 TwinTail starfighters were silhouetted. They had the same black and red scheme the Blade’s Edge, as well as Ash’s mark on each of the S-Foils. Ash could not help but to smile.
Kayla grinned and said, “I bet this bucket couldn’t outrun my uncle’s ship. His ship is the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. It’s the ship that ran the Kessel in less than three parsecs.”
“You mean the Millennium Falcon? It could only get up to twelve parsec. With the mods we have here, we can get this thing within ten parsecs.”
Ash smiled, walking through the TwinTails quietly admiring their beauty. They were only in the hanger for a couple of minutes before he led the way out.
“Hungry?”
“That’s the one,” she said as she followed him. “What do you have?” she asked.
“Choose what you want.”
Ash walked through a set of doors, right into a cafeteria. There was a menu board on the wall for what the cooks can prepare. Around the rather large room were two groups of Mandalorians; one of humans and a Rodian. The other was a mixture of humans and Twi'leks.
Ash sat himself at a table not far from the counter. The menu could be easily read from where they were sitting. A human walked out from a side door, speaking basic with a Corellian accent. He had a bright smile on his face.
“Welcome back, Ash, and I see you brought a new friend. I’m Lasil, and I am lucky enough to take you order today.”
Kayla looked at the board and said, “I want a slice of pepperoni pizza and a coke.”
“Ya got it. What about you, Ash?”
“How about a cheeseburger?”
“Coming right up you two.”
Lasil bowed slightly and turned, heading through the same door he came through. Ash turned around leaning against the table and looked back at Kayla.
“So tell me, how did you end up on Bespin, and happen to be in the same place as our Rodian friend?”
“I didn’t know there was a Rodian there until I ran into you and you told me,” Kayla said as she pulled her ponytail off her neck. “I flew my ship to Bespin and it just so happened that I ran into a bounty hunter from Orin Del as he was making his getaway, though I wasn’t chasing after him. I was just going to stay one day there and then leave.”
Kayla glanced around the room and back at Ash. “Why were you chasing after a Rodian anyway?”
“Bounty hunting need money for this thing and sometimes a little action is good. Watching the stocks go up and down is no fun for anyone, so there are those of us who watch the stocks one day and bounty hunt for us the next. A man’s ship is his best friend, and the Blade is my base of operations. I can do just about anything here.”
Ash smiled and turned around again. There was a band from the kitchen, and some cursing in Mandalorian that made some of the people in the room laugh. Even Ash laughed. He doubted that Kayla knew what the joke was about.
“Lasil is known for his colorful language. He just cursed the pan that landed on his foot to a thousand deaths, and some other things that I can’t mention. Trust me you don’t want to know what he was saying.”
Ash laughed again.
Kayla tried not to crack a grin, but could not help it. “I don’t think I want to know what he said.”
She looked around the ship. “From the looks of it, hotshot, I say you do a little bit of smuggling.”
“No, we don’t smuggle. In fact, we have a second, smaller hanger that takes up about half the cargo space, so he had to make room for cargo. If you wanna push it, this could be used for smuggling.”
Lasil walked out of the doors, two plates; one with pizza, the other a burger, a cup of soda, and a mug of Lomin Ale, one of Ash’s favorite drinks.
“Here you two go. If you need anything else, just yell for me.”
“Got it, Las.”
“About time it got here. I need my coke because if I don’t then I kick into 'high mantence mood'.” Kayla grinned and grabbed some napkins and took a long sip of her coke and then she took a bite of her pizza.
Ash grabbed his burger and bit into it. The nerf beef was well broiled and the cheese and veggies were fresh. A smile touched his lips again as he sipped his Ale.
“So, what did you want to do once we are finished eating?” Ash asked.
Kayla smiled and said, “That’s a good question, hotshot. One I don’t have an answer to…yet.” She thought for a moment. It was as if you could almost see the gears inside her head turning. “What all needs to be done to this bucket of bolts?”
“Nothing really it just had an overhaul and we were just molding the navigation for a more precise jump into hyperspace.”
Ash thought of what else could be done. They still had to work out the kinks in one of the turbo lasers that were just replaced. Ash never liked those fresh weapons. They always had kinks in them. That was about it, but he did not say anything.
Kayla finished the rest of her pizza and the rest of her coke. “Ash, did you check the hyperdrive before we went into orbit to make sure no one deactivated it?”
“Trust me no one would disable the hyperdrive. Most everyone here is a Mandalorian, and even if someone wanted to, they needed to get past three levels or security and two Mandos before they could even touch the hyperdrive. If you want you could have a peak at it just to show you what goes on inside the action, but no working on it. I don’t want you hurting yourself again.”
Ash downed the last of his Ale, his burger long gone. He rose to his feet, stretching his arms above his head.
Kayla stretched her arms and said, “There’s a first time for everything.”
Then she got up to her feet and added, “It’ll take more than a few stitches to keep me from fixing things.”
She headed down to where the hyperdrive was located at and found an R2 unit and told it to check the hyperdrive. The R2 unit did and Kayla was not pleased when it told her that the hyperdrive was fixed.
There’s bound to be something around here I can fix, she thought as she wandered around on the ship some more.
Ash followed silently behind Kayla as she searched the Blade for something to fix. Like Ash said, there was nothing to work on. A war machine did not have much to work on, because of it needed to be ready for anything.
“Finished your search yet? Like I said, there is nothing to work on.”
“Yeah I’m done now,” Kayla said as she leaned her back against the wall.
“Good. Like I said, there is no problem with the Blade. It’s in top condition.”
Ash leaned against the opposite wall, eyes closed. He felt the day’s effort pound on his head, but he ignored it. When he opened them, Ash’s yellow eyes burned in the light, but there were dark spots under them.
Kayla looked back at Ash and noticed that there were dark circles underneath them. “Why don’t you get some rest? You look tired.” She leaned on her left side and felt a pain run through her right side, but she did not groan. Her dark brown eyes widened, but she quickly closed them.
“I’m fine, but we should get you checked out by 1B again. Once he clears you, you can get a real bed. C’mon.”
Ash took a step away from the wall and waved for Kayla to follow him down to the turbolifts and then to the medical wing where she could get checked out again.
“Haven’t I been checked out enough by a droid for one day?” Kayla grumbled as she seen Ash motion for her to follow him. “Fine, but if that droid says I ain’t cleared I’m moving into the cargo hold and sleeping there.”
“Okay, so would you rather a human check you out?”
Ash could not help but laugh. He was talking about a medical check-up, but the way Ash spoke made it sound like something else.
“A human can check you out, but most likely 1B is going to make sure you’re okay.”
Yup, Ash reached rock bottom as exhaustion hit him hard. It did not show, but he felt it.
Kayla rolled her eyes and said, “Fine the droid it is then. Unless you happen to be a doctor---” She felt another sharp pain and stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes. She knew that she should not have got up and did a lot of walking around.
Ash was next to Kayla in a second, once he noticed that she was in pain. He placed an arm around her shoulders, helping to support her.
“You alright?”
Ash wished that he could use the Force right then, but because of the Ysalamiri, he could not, so he could not feel what was giving Kayla pain.
“I think so,” Kayla said as she caught her breath. “I think I overdone it by walking too much. It’s just that the stitches…I think are tightening up. If I could use the Force it wouldn’t be so…painful.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Why can’t we use the Force anyways?”
Ash walked slowly forward, supporting Kayla.
“We have furry lizards onboard that block all of the Force. I won’t tell you why we have them onboard, though. It’s not likely you would figure it out anyway.”
They made it to the turbolift and the doors opened smoothly for them. Ash punched in the second floor button and a couple of seconds later, the doors opened again. They were close to the medical wing now.
“Why have them onboard if they block the Force?” she asked as tears stung her eyes. Kayla blinked them back as she yawned and fell asleep.
Ash smiled and picked Kayla up like he did earlier, and carried her the rest of the way to the medical wing, where 2-1B met them.
“Look her over 1B, but don’t wake her. I’m going to get some sleep myself, so wake me via comlink when Kayla wakes up, okay?”
“Yes sir.”
Ash yawned and left, heading to an upper level floor, where his room was at, kicked off his boots, and laid on his bed. Moments later, he was asleep.
Kayla stirred only one time before 2-1B looked over her and that was to kick off her boots and cloak. When 2-1B checked her over she did not wake up. She was tired and needed all the rest she could get.
Char Vai walked to the bridge, bored. He awoken from the medical not too long ago and wanted to make sure that they were still well hidden. Well, they were fine and hidden. The emerald Twi'lek sighed. He was almost hoping for danger, but like always, there was going to be nothing. For a second, he wondered where Ash was, but dropped the thought, left for his room, and once there, went to sleep again; wanting to get rid of the aches and pains from the blast.
About four hours later, Kayla felt another sharp pain that caused her to wake up and she yelped in pain, grabbing hold of the bed rail and closing her eyes. The pain was coming from side where her stitches were and she could feel the three broken ribs and one of the fractured ones.
1B walked from the back of the room to Kayla.
“Is there a problem? Would you like some pain relievers for any pain that you may be feeling?”
A small whirling sound came from 1B as he shifted to a different vile on his arm hypodermic attachment.
“Yeah,” Kayla said. She did not want to have another operation if her ribs were broke. She waited for the droid to give some medicine.
With a gently touch, 1B took Kayla’s upper arm in his clawed hand and brought it up, where the needle was inserted into her vein. The drug would work fast, and should hold her up for at least twelve hours.
“You should stay here for the next half hour at least, for the reliever to fully work. Then I shall alert Ash that you are awake.”
1B turned and walked off.
Kayla did not watch when 1-B stuck her with the needle, though her eyes widened when he stuck her. She hated getting shots just as much as she hated being in the med center. She felt another sharp pain and closed her eyes and waited for the pain medicine to work hopefully.
Ash awoken in what seem liked five minutes. Still half asleep, he washed his face off with warm water, and was instantly feeling better. A change of clothes into something similar but still clean, and he left his room, heading to the medical center to check on Kayla, and Noah, who should still be in there.
Kayla tried to sit up, but she felt a sharp pain near the right side of her rib cage that made her groan. She managed to take off her utility belt and moved it out of the way. She adjusted her head on her pillow and sighed.
Ash walked into the medical wing, and at first glance, thought Kayla was asleep. With a shrug, he walked around the room to where Noah was. He was also asleep, and the vital readouts next to him showed that he would be fine, with a broken arm and rip, and a fractured one also. Ash shook his head and walked to another human in the room, who was also asleep. He was just sick and there for the night.
Kayla opened her eyes and noticed Ash was in the room. She forced a smile on her face and said, “Hey, hotshot. What are you doing up?”
“I’m just checking up on the going-on round the Blade. So, have a nice nap?”
Ash smiled and walked over, leaning against the wall like earlier. Ash was making sure everyone was okay before they went to hyperspace for Coruscant. They spent enough time on Bespin.
Kayla shook her head. “I thought I was going to have to kill your droid for sticking me earlier. So where are we going---” She stopped in midsentence as she felt a sharp pain underneath her torso and she gripped the bed rail and closed her eyes.
Ash was next to Kayla in a split second. She did not look so good right then.
“Now we are going to Coruscant so you can have a bacta dip. I also need to speak to Master Jexz. He might have a mission for me, so I doubt that you would be coming with us after my meeting. You should go back to sleep.”
Kayla’s dark brown eyes glared at Ash with great indignity. “I may be feeling better before we even get there for all you know hotshot.” She did not like the idea of being stuck in a med center on Coruscant. Matter of fact she despised that.
“Then do what you want on Coruscant, it doesn’t matter much to me.”
Ash stepped back, his back against the wall as he looked at Kayla. His yellow eyes had some indifferent look in them, hard to place. To take up his mind, he flipped one of his lightsaber hilts in his hand, getting it to spin fast.
“I do what I want anyways,” Kayla said as she got up out of bed and grabbed her boots and slipped them on. Then she grabbed her utility belt and put it back around her waist and she grabbed her cloak and slipped it back on. She had a slight headache and needed to clear her head and she headed for the door.
Ash shrugged and followed Kayla out the door, but left for the cockpit. It was a short walk down the hallways, and everyone looked up when Ash entered.
“Alright, set course for Coruscant. We’re getting out of here.”
There was some cheering then the pilots and navigation officer set in the course for the modernized planet. It would still be about two hundred and ninety minutes before they actually left Bespin’s gravity well, so he decided to look for Kayla and have her buckle down somewhere.
Kayla did not wander too far around the ship. She walked down to the control room and found a window and sat down in a chair and watched the stars fly by. The pain medicine that 1-B gave her was helping her and she was feeling better. She closed her eyes and rubbed the side of her temple with her fingers. She had a slight headache and the reason she was down her was because the sound of engines firing up got rid of her headaches better than anything else.
The control room door slid silently open, letting in Ash. It was only about five minutes later after he gave the command to leave, and the engines were fired up. In five minutes, they would be moving, and in another ten, they would be away to Coruscant.
“Better buckle up, we will be leaving in a couple of minutes, and you wouldn’t want to get flattened somewhere, would you?”
Kayla opened her eyes and said, “That can happen even if you are buckled up.” She buckled herself up. “How did you I was up this way anyway?”
“Lucky guess. I was just wandering around making sure everyone was ready for the hyperspace travel. I doubt that would happen, but it’s always safe to buckle up. Besides, what if you don’t buckle up and end up splattered all over the room?”
Ash laughed and sat down next to Kayla. He did not buckle up yet, though. The engines were still warming up, but the sleek corvette would be off soon.
“Then you would have to clean up the mess I leave behind,” she said with a grin.
“Eh, I would let the cleaning staff do that. They are among the only non Mandalorians on board. At least they think the pay is good.”
Ash laughed again, and felt the Blade start to move. The engines revved up, and the acceleration was like a wall. Ash almost slipped, but caught himself.
“See what I mean about the engines?”
Kayla laughed. “Yeah I see what you mean, hotshot. So let’s see what this bucket of bolts can do.”
“She won’t show her true colors until we get into a battle. This thing could disable a ship with her ion cannons and rip it to shreds with her turbolasers.”
Ash sat himself upright again and buckled up. Normally, he would be on the bridge now, but they could handle themselves with the chief of security, and unofficial third in command.
Kayla adjusted the straps on her chair and pulled them behind her and relaxed. She leaned back in the chair and said, “I’m feeling better than I was earlier.”
“That’s good and it looks like we are about to take off for hyperspace.”
Ash leaned back as he felt inertia take over, and they were away from Bespin.
The End and Enjoy ;D!
