Impact

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile swung her head around, hair feathering the sides of her face. Her heart seemed to almost kickstart its way through her chest. Adrenaline was pumping hot in her veins. There was no plan now; what they had went out the window. Kaile caught the flash of green before he slipped his sunglasses on. That hint of a rascal’s smile despite the escalating situation coming through.

“Yeah.” the agent quickly nodded, taking a deep breath. Outside there were several hotel guests and employees scrambling to get inside. In her head, Kaile tried to think of what they could do. What they had to do. What they would be able to do. To stay together or split apart.

Swallowing hard, the espion made her decision quickly. “Stay with me.” she breathed out, her own hand coming up to curl over his own. She felt the tightening of his fingers, the slight squeeze in his reaction.

“We’ll need to be quick. Stay on our feet.” she explained.

“I know these fire exits by heart so maybe we can still do something with it.” if they could have everyone evacuate the building… it would allow add more chaos but allow them to more easier under cover.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus pulled the key from the landspeeder, letting the engines whine down. “Okay.” An affirmative use of the word, attempting to be positive. The landspeeder bobbed as he stepped out and rounded the vehicle. He had expected to be left out here, but he much preferred to stay with Kaile no matter what was ahead.

Several civilians burst. Out of the exit before they reached it. The pair stepped into a corridor of rooms. They made their way through back to the front lobby. The men at the desk shouted in concern down comm lines. There were flashes outside on the courtyard. Asmus’ keen eyes counted two stormtroopers down and two armed men heading for the hotel.

That explained people fleeing out the back. “Up, up, up,” he called taking the main stairs two at a time. “Do you have a room number?”

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile kept her head down, she had to. Her eyes were giving off a very faint blue light if one would look close enough. She was trying her best to remotely log into the holonet. Right now she had to try and contact Hacken. They had to find out where he was located and quick.

There were several Stormtroopers along the front entrance. A few were trying to calm and guide the alarmed crowd. A mental map came up with a single thought. A quick flick of her eyes towards Asmus and the schematic of the emergency exits and the floor plan of the hotel was displayed in a HUD over the inside of his right lens.

[ I’m locating him.] the aurabesh script went floating under the current floorplan displayed. Her breath went sawing in and out of her chest, quick steps prompting the Lorrdian to catch up. Come on, come on. Information went streaming over the lenses upon her eyes. A sudden red dot appeared.

“Got him.” she said audibly this time, her voice a hoarse whisper.

“Twentieth floor.” one of the penthouse suites.

This was going to be a long climb up.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus groaned in resignation. The next noise of a blaster bolt was far more loud and clear than the last. He felt heat wash over him, saw the flash. He was on the floor before he knew it, Kaile's arm across his back. The main stairwell ran up from the lobby as a centrepiece, before turning away and up out of sight.

There was a constant patter of.blaster fire now as a running battle began between the troopers in the lobby and rebels outside. He felt Kaile's hand check him briefly for a wound before they continued to crawl. Once they reached the foot of the stairwell that led from the first to second floor they'd be out of sight of the shooters. Not that he imagined they were being targeted. Or at least he hoped Pute wasn't indiscriminately shooting civilians.

He swore as they got back to their feet and started to run. His.legs were burning by the third floor. Chest was on fire, and he started to sweat. The main staircase was against the glass wall at the side of the hotel. They could see the conference centre from here. Could see the smoke, the flames and the running street battles. Worse than he'd ever expected. They could get up, but what about down.

He looked at the schematic she'd flicked his way. He couldn't help but think this - and piloting - would perhaps be easier if he had similar.

“Fire escape - back…” two men ran down towards them filling the stairs case. Asmus didn't even call out, he lowered his head and pushed through them, barreling both down to their backsides. Just desperate people trying to run, but Asmus didn't have the time to politely step aside or ask them to move out the way.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile gave a start. Both men were tossed onto their backs, their eyes wide with panic and growing fear. Who could blame them? Who knew how long they believe themselves to be safe here? The sudden explosions was a reality check. Not everyplace was safe. Maybe they've been complacent for far too long.

Part of her felt a bit guilty. This was a result of one extreme branch of the resistance. It might've been a mistake that the explosions had gone off to early, but they were every bit willing to cause as much damage to the empire Imperials as they could.

“Get up,” she said, reaching down to grab the closest one to her, and tugging up forcefully. “through there,” The agent pointed towards the direction of the side entrance. A quick dart of brown eyes and Kaile caught sight of Asmus. A nod was his answer. The fire escape.

“GO!” She shouted at the pair, who flinched and scrambled to their feet. As they left Kaile gestured for Asmus to take point. She had to get in contact with the asset and try to get him to meet halfway.

Then she'd set off the fire alarm.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Sorry,” Asmus said as they continued to climb. He hadn't wanted the scared civilians bowling them over and back down the stairs. More running, he decided. He definitely needed to do more running back on the Subversion.

Only adrenaline kept him going up the stairs. As he turned a corner he saw a group of worried civilians.

“What's going on?” one of them called after him.

“Fire escape...or stay in...rooms…” he shouted back between breaths. What would he do if he was with the rebels now? They weren't suicidal, they would need an exit plan. This was too haphazard, they'd been discovered and forced to act he assumed.

Floor Four and his legs weren't getting any fresher. His ground his teeth, forced oxygen into his lungs and kept on going.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Bounding behind him, the Lorrdian agent kept her head facing forward. Her eyes were flickering blue again. They did so when they were trying to connect into the holonet or a database. Aurabesh sigils went sweeping over her line of vision. Okay, she was connected. Now to send a quick message.

A mere thought typed out the words, the encryption second nature. It was but a sentence, a location for them to meet by the maintenance lift.

"Got him." now it was up for them all to be able to work through all this. Each step made her legs feel as if they were burning. Thankfully, she had told the asset to take the elevator down to the fifth level.

"Fifth level." that was easier than twenty one flights of stairs. Once they met up, she'll activate the fire alarm.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Got it,"

Kaile even helpfully marked it on his map. As he ran the map rotated to his perspective and showed him the way ahead. As he dashed down the corridor to the tempo of blaster fire he came to an abrupt halt at the marker. Two lifts were next to him. The signs above them showed one heading down towards them, the other sign was broken. Asmus didn't stand still, adrenaline was coursing through his veins. Asmus did a little jig on the spot and his fingers kept moving of their own accord.

Ping

The colonel stepped out of the lift onto the fifth floor, he barely spared Asmus a glance but laid his eyes on Kaile. The relief was evident. He was alone, dressed in his uniform still, code cylinders on his chest. Asmus didn't like that, it would mark them as a target for any of Pute's fighters. "I'm so glad you're here," the Colonel said to Kaile.

Ping

The second lift door opened. This one didn't hold an elderly officer. Two men in something between civilian dress and military gear stepped out. They were Pute's men.

Asmus came to an abrupt halt. His fingers no longer twitched. He was closest to the pair, Kaile and Hacken behind him. Blaster muzzles trained on him didn't move a fraction of a centimeter as one veteran looked to the other. Pute had suffered heavy casualties over the last few years. What was left were those capable enough to have survived the brutal conditions they'd been fighting in.

Water on a paving slab didn't reach boiling point yet it still evaporated. Even in a moderate environment there were always extreme ends of the distribution. What Pute had left was the extremists. Willing to do anything for the cause. All the others had been left behind.

"That's one." They were looking at Hacken.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Now this was one shiny Rodian standoff.

Oh crap! Was the immediate mental response for the Lorrdian. The tension rose with a near palapatable fury. Hacken's watery blue eyes grew wide, and the light reflected across the beats of sweat over his brow.

Kaile had no idea just what side of the spectrum Pute's men lay, but it was pretty damn clear from the way their jaws were set tightly that they were firmly commited to the cause; whatever the means.

"You are coming with us Colonel," Arian Goa, the extremist rebel from Balmorra said in a thick voice. It bode no arguement. Which was fine and dandy because in that very instant, Kaile's eyes shone bright. The irises of those circlets gleamed bright blue, her eyes scanning over the type of weapons they now held. They were standard Browncoat Arms, at least not slugthrowers. And by their body language, the two were very willing to use them.

Over her right eye, the HUD interface searched for a lock on to the fire alarm system.

"Hey guys... sorry for the fuss...". A small stream of words gleaming in blue bloomed the words [ Access confirmed.]

That was when the fire alarm went off.

 

[Asmus Janes]

They didn't see the boy with panic behind his eye as a threat. The nearest had waved his muzzle and Asmus had stepped aside. Under normal circumstances he would have stayed to one side and done as he had been indicated. But Kaile was suddenly the target of one of those blasters.

He wasn't losing her. Not now. If they had seen the look that settled on his face, the balling of hands into fists, they would not have turned their backs. Asmus was intelligent, but when he decided to act he did so quickly. His hands had always been fast, every movement deliberate, precise. The closest had a blaster on his right hip. If there was one thing he knew about a standoff, and being on the Quintessential he'd been in plenty, is that they required both sides to be armed.

The alarm went off and both of them instinctively looked up at the speaker above them. Asmus moved. Forefinger pressed off the restraining clip. His other fingers took the handle. Thumb to safety, finger back to trigger. He barely moved the blaster and fired it right into the middle of Arian’s back.

These were seasoned soldiers, as hardened in battle as Asmus was experienced behind the stick. The second soldier turned as fast as Asmus brought the blaster up. A red flash and blue flash together lit the corridor in purple as everyone started to leave their rooms. Asmus heard screams, realised he was looking at the ceiling.

His hand didn’t hold a blaster any more. His right shoulder was a fireball of pain. He could smell charred flesh. His charred flesh. The second soldier was down too, just two metres away and reaching for his carbine.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile felt the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck and along her arms stand on end. At the same time everything seemed to slow for a second, time stopped. In her desperation to try and deactivate the two blasters, the Force sent her a cry of warning. Ah, but she was too late. Always too late.

Time kick started with the sudden sound of a blaster going off. The grunt and scent of seared flesh came promptly after, the Lorrdian catching the slight jolt and knock back along Asmus' left shoulder. The turbo lift doors were still wide open, so what Kaile did next came out of mere reaction.

The Force went thrusting forward, as if an intangible burst of power had suddenly swept to knock the pair of Pute's men back into the lift. Startled cries fell from their mouths, their bodies crashing against the rear wall.

"GO!" A sudden path appeared within Asmus' glasses directing him to the maintenance stairwell as Kaile cried out, pulling out her Moph stun blaster and sending a quick volley of bolts into the small turbolift opening. They were primed strong enough to knock a typical man out.

That's when hotel guests and employees began to flood the area quickly. Blaster fire came flying back at Kaile, and she ducked for cover. Now it was up to Asmus to take the Colonel.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Are you alright?" Hacken asked as Asmus pushed him towards the stairwell. Asmus had picked the stolen blaster pistol back up, but his left arm hung limp at his side. The clothing around his left shoulder was blackened by the bolt that had struck him.

"You never get used to being shot," Asmus growled. It had happened a few times in his life now. Smuggling wasn't the safest business in the galaxy. Every time the pain from those nerve endings not burned out by the bolt was absolute agony. Adrenaline kept him going. He shoved the Colonel round the corner so that he was out of sight. He was still piecing together what had happened in his head. The bolt had hit him, the second soldier had been about to shoot him. Then they'd both flown backwards into the lift.

Bracing his shoulder against one wall he turned back down the corridor. "Kaile! Go!" he cried out. He raised his blaster pistol, steady hands keeping it on that lift. He fired two shots and forced the remaining gunman back into the lift.

 

[Kaile Vera]

@As,us Janes

This had suddenly turned into the sort of altercation that Kaile had wanted to avoid to begin with. Damn, damn, double damn! She had to keep her head down, the pot shots coming intermittent volleys. With civilians out and about, the chances of one of them getting hurt had now drastically increased. They had to get out of here fast.

As soon as the Lorrdian heard Asmus cry out, Kaile immediately jolted forward. She kept crouched low, doing her best to sprint over towards the maintenance stairwell. The only boon was that as soon as she crossed the corner, she was out of the line of sight of Pute's men. Hacken was wide eyed and his face a blotchy red hue in alarm. Seeing him in his full uniform again made Kaile curse.

"Go down, now!" She said in a curt town, prompting the old fool in doing so. "And take off that jacket!" Immediately she turned to Asmus, her face awashed with avid worry. She caught the charred black hole on his shoulder and read the pain that had settled upon his face.

"You good?" She asked, needing to know as she shoved the maintenance stairwell door shut.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"I'm okay," he said with a slow nod. He managed a weak smile even though he could feel blood running down his arm. Her met her eyes with determination. "Thank you." It wasn't the first time he'd been staring down the barrel of death, but one of the few literal occasions. A part of him knew what she must have done, but right now there was only the mission.

"I can still fly unless this gets worse," he added as he turned and hurried down the stairs. Hacken slipped off his jacket and then dropped it down the stairwell. Asmus didn't even have the energy to chide him for doing that. The crisp white jacket with blue, red and gold squares to mark rank floated down the five stories gently. To Asmus a falling symbol of a hundred failed attempts to raise another Galactic Empire.

He bounded down the stairs, keeping his blaster in his grip. His left hand flexed to test what grip strength he had for the controls. He tried to lift his forearm and found he could before checking he still had the keys to the air speeder.

"I'll have to tell you... about the time... I flew a Jedi Marshal out of danger... whilst short two pints of blood..."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

He what?! Somehow Kaile wasn't sure if she really wanted to hear that story. The incredulous expression told him that much. Her brows scrunch forward, and she couldn't help but look at him in bemusement. He serious? The cocky grin she saw through the pain confirmed it. You have got to be kidding me!

There was no need for words at that moment; they were too busy trying to bound down the five flights of stairs. The Colonel wasn't the fittest individual, so he was already wheezing and huffing as he went down the steps. This just gets better and better, Kaile thought to herself. Never mind she just use the Force in front of Asmus. Well in the most obvious of manners. With all the unanswered questions and the setting Ness of what had occurred, there wasn't a way for her to explain it to some other oddity. Just more question and more mysteries and more of the woman the pilot didn't know.

"To the speeder," Kaile huffed out. Right now it was the only way they were going to be able to get out of here. And then only hope that they can come up with a good plan to get off world stat.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus kicked the bar to open the fire exit. Others must have used it but it had swung shut behind them. The sound of rolling street battles made an unwelcome return. The Colonel was kept sandwiched between them as they made down the street.

"Seems they're going for the conference centre and plaza," Asmus grunted. All the sounds seemed to emanate from the far side of the hotel.

"Get in," he instructed Hacken. Asmus slipped his stolen blaster pistol into his jacket and slipped behind the controls. "Shuttle park?" He asked Kaile. "Giving the fighting a wide berth."

The shoulder pain was getting worse, but he seemed to have some more mobility.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“All the better,” it was enough to distract the Stormtroopers and anyone else who might be keen on singling them out. But it wouldn’t be easy; it never was that easy. The woman slid into the seat beside Asmus, Hacken wide eyed and nervous as he came in behind them.

A swinging glance over her shoulder and she gave a slight scowl. He still had on the uniform pants. Another grimace and she began to slip off her own concho.

“Shuttle park. We’ll play it by ear.” her voice was muffled as she slipped the concho over her head, baring the blue blouse she had worn underneath.
“Here, put this on.” she shoved the dark brown concho over at the Colonel’s direction. He stared at it with incredulity, “Look do you want to stand out like a sore thumb? Wear it!”

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus pulled away far more carefully from the hotel than he had the restaurant. In his head he still had the route from the conference centre, which was barely a hundred metres away. But in that direction was violence.

“We can now confirm that a main group of terrorists have taken the conference centre. Soldiers are attempting to cordon off the area but other armed groups are appearing in different areas. We now have holovideos of the gunship brought down by what was believed to be a ground to air missile.”

Asmus took them directly away from the hotel, wincing with every turn that required both hands on the wheel. He kept to the speed limit this time, and on the back roads away from the barriers being laid out by patrols.

“Won't take us long to get there.” But then what.

 

[Kaile Vera]

While Asmus drove, Kaile turned her attention back to him. His shoulder wound was right on his left shoulder, and the charred hole visible through his jacket. That was going to stand out. A small crimson pool had saturated his shirt, but at the very least it hadn’t been a slug. The laser bolt would char straight through.

Focus, Kaile reminded herself again. She couldn’t get distracted. Brown eyes fixed forward and she took a deep breath. A wiggle and she brought out her datapad from her pack pocket.

“Yeah… then we’ll have to do some quick acting.” security would be up, from there -- well odds were they could be stopped.

“I need to send an update.”

“Why didn’t you get here yesterday as planned!” Hacken abruptly chided them both, panic coating his voice and spittle spewing from his lips.

“If you had simply --”

“Trying to make sure you stay alive here. Going over what we can’t fix isn’t going to help.” Kaile shot back, fingers tapping frantically away at her datapad. Vo. She had to update Vo.


[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

Somehow they managed to avoid any check points. Perhaps, Asmus thought, because the stormtroopers were reacting to the chaos. If they'd attacked tomorrow Kaile could have ended up with the hostages in the conference centre whilst the troopers laid siege. That would have been an impossible scenario to get out of.

“If we can get a shuttle, I'm keeping her on the ground until I've done the quick calculations for a microhop beyond the edge of the system. Then I can jump from the upper atmosphere.”

For the lorrdian who knew his mannerisms so well it was obvious he was speaking through clenched teeth. He pulled round to the left. He swore.

An AT-PT was advancing down the road. He did the first thing that came to mind. He pulled over. He placed his right hand over his shoulder. The walked clanked by and Asmus started to breath again. He pushed the speed a little until they came to the shuttle park.


Asmus grinned. Or at least he tried to. In reality it ended up more of a pained grimace. But for once the dice had rolled in their favour. There might be no need for any tedious slicing at all.

“You know how I always wanted to fly a Naboo shuttle…” He nodded towards the sleek silver model. The door was open. Two men carrying luggage up the stairs. He looked down at her datapad.