Talo’Ra bounced off the wall she had been knocked into by the Twi’lek and spun around. In an instant she took in the situation: His injury was obvious by the way he slid down the wall and the smoke coming off of his clothing. He had felled two of the nine in the other patrol before they took what cover they could.

Reaching out with the Force, she pulled the nearest intact body to her. She bent down and activated two of the grenades on it then flung the entire body down the hallway with the Force. She closed her eyes and clapped hands over her ears in preparation for this latest explosion. The concussion of several grenades going off knocked her and Qet’al back a few feet.

She scrambled to her feet and picked up her blaster rifle again. She would kill to have a lightsaber right now. Instead she had to rely on less precise options to do the killing. Qet’al lay on his back, shaking his head to try and clear it. His consciousness tried to reconcile what he had just seen with her running past him as a blur.

She employed the Force to speed up her actions and the world seemed to slow down around her. She ran towards the intersection and started firing indiscriminately down the hall as the smoke, dust and debris roiled. Lights had been blown out in all directions. Glowing green blaster fire seemed to be flowing slowly through a time warp. Their light reflected from the dust and walls as sparks slowly exploded from them.

She sped into the hallway and continued firing. An arm and rifle coming out of a side room caught her across the chest. The arm, and the body attached to it, were spun around flinging the rifle away down the hall. Talo’Ra lost her footing and rebounded off the wall and then rolled down the hallway.

Adrenaline has a wonderful way of covering up pain and injuries. This time was no different, though there is only so much it can do. She rolled up to her knees and used the wall to climb back to her feet. A fist connected with the side of her face and sent her back down to her knees. The boot in her ribs knocked the air out of her lungs and rolled her onto her back.

The apprentice gasped for breath like a fish out of water. The dust was starting to settle, but it still made things hard to breathe. She spied her attacker. It was a figure dressed in the invaders’ uniform with a breather mask under the helmet. A combat knife in one hand the commando lunged down to finish her off. She extended a hand and sent a wave of the Force down the hallway.

The invader was sent in a flying somersault into the debris field behind. She pulled her shirt up over her mouth to try and filter some of the dust as she sucked in ragged breaths. Down the hall she saw the figure scrambling back to its feet and searching for a weapon. As much as she wanted to tear this thing apart slowly, she knew there wasn’t time.

Feeling the back of her head, she found the only hairpin that hadn’t been knocked loose. She pulled it free and held it up in the direction of the commando. She grabbed it with the Force and sent it speeding down the hall. The pin hit the intruders mask and rocked its head back. She whipped the pin around and slammed it as hard as she could into the exposed neck.

The pin tore into the neck, but didn’t do as much damage as she’d hoped. The commando clapped a hand to its neck to stop the bleeding. She could see that it wasn’t nearly enough to disable him. Scrambling to her feet she ran down the hallway and pulled her own knife. Blaster rifles were nearby but invisible in the shadows cast by distant lights.

The invader saw her coming and braced to try and catch her. At the last second she dropped to her knees and slid under the outstretched arms. Her knife sliced open the inside of the nearest leg. A roar of pain came from the mask and a hand clutched at the new injury. Talo’Ra was just regaining traction when a body slammed her up against the wall.

Breath was again knocked out of her lungs with a crushing weight pinning her down. She struggled to get her hands into a position to do anything. She finally managed to plunge the dagger into its neck but the trooper wouldn’t stop. A blaster rifle barked twice and the weight on her jerked in unison. The body slid off her and to the floor.

As she slumped down the wall behind her, gasping for breath again, she saw that Qet’al had dragged himself over to get a shot off at the larger of the two forms. She couldn’t see his face. The dark around them and the light behind made it impossible. The apprentice crawled over his direction.

When she reached him, she could see that he looked terrible. The pain on his face was obvious, though he tried valiantly to ignore it. His strength was admirable but fading. Her medical satchel would have been invaluable right now. She would have to make do with what she could scrounge up.

She searched the bodies around them and found some hypo sprays of what looked like Bacta and stims. The former would be more useful than the latter, but she kept both. She laid the Twi’lek flat on his back and ripped open his shirt. Inside was a well muscled torso with a ragged and blackened hole in the right side. She set to work probing and judiciously injecting the Bacta into the wound.

Qet’al was having trouble focusing. He knew that he needed to keep an eye out for enemies, but couldn’t seem to manage it. Instead he looked at the face of the woman above him. Her face was illuminated by the light from the undamaged halls beyond. He could see that one of her eyes was now a striking yellow color while the other was still dark. Half of her face was streaked with light skin among the darker.

He was almost surprised by the revelation of her disguise. He had known she wasn’t what she seemed at first and this proved it. His mind wandered and consciousness faded as he stared into mismatched eyes. She saw his eyes start to roll as the lids sank over them. She slapped him sharply across the face, “None of that now! You have to stay awake!”

His eyes snapped open with the smack. It brought enough awareness back to his brain to know that she was right. He watched her work and made pain filled faces and grunted, but never cried out. Even when she pressed on particularly sensitive spots. He concentrated on her mismatched eyes and pale skin under the dye. It had a surreal effect that took his mind from the pain as she worked.

She tore strips off the bottom of his shirt and used them to bind up the wound. His lung was fried and would take some work to restore. The muscles were barely holding together and she had no idea about his other internal organs. It wasn’t going to be easy to get him out of here alive. Especially with active shooters roaming the halls.

Of course the obvious answer was to just leave him here to his fate. He knew what he was getting into when he stopped to help her. That was the thing though. He had stopped to help when no one else would have. Why would he do that? It gained him nothing and may have cost him everything. It made no sense to her. Still, he had saved her life three times now. She owed him at least one in return.

They needed a new plan to get out since mobility was no longer his strong suit. She looked around and again wished for her lightsaber. It was so much easier to be able to cut through walls when needed. She looked around and then back down at Qet’al. “Have any ideas on how to get out of here big guy? And if you say ‘leave me behind’, I will slap seven kinds of poodoo out of you.”

His eyes came back into focus again and he focused blearily on her yellow eye. It really stood out against her complexion, both natural and fake. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before saying “You’re pretty.” The apprentice blinked several times and her eyebrows knit together at the unexpected comment.

Her cheeks flushed so hot that she was certain they could be seen in the dark, a moment later his cheeks burned as well when she slapped and then backhanded him sharply. “Focus! We need to get frell out of here! I need you to think. What options do we have? We can’t afford any other fights with you down.”

The Twi’lek was snapped back to the reality of their danger with the blows. He looked around and said, “Right.” His speech was broken by gasps of pain from the injuries but she made it out. “There are service passages not far from here. They’re behind locked safety doors.” He paused and tried to swallow with a dry throat. “Any water about?”

“I’ll look for some. Keep talking. Where do these passages lead?” She had been looking down each of the three hallways constantly, wondering when the next patrol would come by. She knew where to start looking in the piled bodies. Her mission was not only for something to drink, but also for any more medicines the dead possessed. After all, they wouldn’t need them anymore.

Qet’al started to speak again and was stopped by a dry throat. He managed to get some saliva built up and swallowed it. His voice was hoarse, but not a croak. He continued on with pain filled gaps. “We need a key to get those doors open. If this were a normal day I could get one without a problem. I suspect my contacts are dead though.”

She smirked in the near dark, “I don’t think we have to worry about keys. Where do they go? Why would we go in them?” The fruits of her labor were beginning to pile up around the hallway. A few unbroken vials of Bacta, stims and even a painkiller were found. So far only one intact canteen had been found. This she brought over to him. “Drink this, but slowly.”

He nodded and sipped at the liquid. He seemed to know the drill about drinking while injured. He had to be a mercenary of some kind. Or a former soldier. But why would one of those want to be bored to death with station life?

“Oh, that’s much better. The service passages go to almost everywhere in the base. Mainly they will give us a place to hide from these idiots.”

She said, “The docks?”

He thought for a moment and said, "Yeah. Well, pretty close anyways. Wait a minute. You want to go there? Where do you think these goons came from? They didn’t just come in the back door. That area will be crawling with them.” She simply continued to prepare. “What’s that?” He pointed with the canteen.

“Painkiller and a stim. You need to be up and mobile, or we’re dead.” She loaded each vial into the hypo and injected them. “We’ll see how half a dose holds you. Feeling better?”

He replied somewhat groggily, “Oh sure. Drugs always make things better when I get shot in the chest.”

She patted him on the shoulder, “Good to hear. Let’s go.” She found a blaster on the floor and checked the power pack. It was mostly full so she stood up and looked at the Twi’lek and saw he was struggling to get to his feet. She hooked her free arm under his nearest and helped hoist him up. He grit his teeth, but said nothing as he checked his own weapon.

“This way,” he said and started off down a hallway. They had turned two more corners before finding the hatch he wanted. He leaned against the wall, huffing in pain and fatigue. “This is one of the access points, but we need a key to get it open.” She reached out with her left hand and seemed to grip nothing. “There might be one...” His voice trailed off as the door began rattling of its own accord.

He looked back and forth between the door and the woman he rescued. Her brows knit together furiously as continued to pull on the door. With a shriek, the door gave way and whipped open, destroying one of the hinges. “Told you” was all she said before moving into the now open doorway.

“What kind of drugs did you give me? It looked like that door tore itself open. That was actually pretty awesome.” The confused tone was easy to make out. The painkiller was doing its job, but making him a bit loopy. She almost laughed at it but there was no time for that now. She grabbed his harness and pulled him into the new passageway.

It was dimly lit compared to the normal passages and she was quite pleased by this. It was easier to sneak around in the dark, even with her stealth skill. With the added benefit of being less likely to encounter a foe, it seemed the right way to go. She asked him “Which way do we go from here?”

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He was still looking at the wrecked door and muttering to himself. She was suddenly very grateful that she hadn’t given him more than half of that pain killer. His system was highly susceptible to it. She nudged him. “Hmm?”

“Where do we go from here or do I just leave you behind and figure it out myself?”

He turned his head to look at her, “That seems uncalled for. It’s just down this way.” He took the lead and walked down the passage for a ways before having to stop. He was gasping and said, “I can’t seem to catch my breath. I need a second.”

She peered into the darkness before them, and then turned her attention to his burned and partially disfigured side. “This is what I was afraid of. Your lung must have been destroyed with that blaster shot. You’re only working with one lung right now so it's going to be hard to breathe. Just keep yourself together and we’ll get there.”

Lucidity momentarily crept back into his mind through the drug haze. “Still thinking of the docks? How do you propose we convince a pilot to take us out?”

Not looking up from adjusting the wraps on his side she said, “We kill them and take it.”

“Are you serious? We can’t just kill innocent people.”

Her only reply was, “Which way?”

“There’s a ladder up in about one hundred yards, then left at a crossroad. There will be a series of ladders we have to go up I think. I’ll have to figure it out as we go.”

She nodded then headed down the tunnel towards the ladder. He watched her go while the miasma of fog clouded his brain once again. Was he supposed to follow her? She stopped and turned to look at him. Her one yellow eye glinted in the sparse light. She gestured for him to join her. It seemed the thing to do so he lurched forward.

He stopped to lean against the wall again about fifty of the yards they needed to traverse. She heard him gasping behind her and came back to his side. She freed the canteen again and offered it to him, “Sip again. We need to get fluids back into you. I can’t fix you until we get out of here.”

He gratefully sipped the water between pants. His vision swam in and out of focus. “Look Tarola. It’s a long way and I don’t know how I’m going to manage the ladders. Maybe you should--”

She cut him off and said “Don’t you finish that sentence or I will leave you. And it’s Talo’Ra. Come on.” He wasn’t making this whole ‘saving his life’ thing easy. She again wondered why she was bothering with this one. He was a nobody, and she was... She was a fugitive from the Order with a death mark on her head. Not to mention what the Jedi would do to her if they found her.

They made it to the ladder and Qet’al was lost in a fog again. She saw he was in a state and came up with a plan. “I need you to hold this ladder for me. Make sure it doesn’t come away from the wall. Can you do that?” His face took on a serious cast and nodded solemnly. “Good. I’m going to climb up and scout.” She wasn’t worried about how well he did since the ladder was bolted firmly to the wall.

Once she got to the top she glanced around out of habit. When she looked down the ladder, she saw he was hunched up against the wall, head resting on a ladder rung. The meds were already wearing off it seemed. He would be in trouble soon if they didn't get away.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She reached out with the Force and wrapped the Twi'lek in it. This would be tricky. She had violently yanked beings, or objects, heavier than him more times than she could count. But this time was different. It needed to be more controlled, more precise than anything she'd done before. The bed in her slave quarters had been levitated in place. No acrobatics.

Carefully she lifted his entire body off the ground and waited to see if he reacted. When she saw it was minimal she pulled him up the ladder tube. His head only banged on the wall twice before reaching the top. Once he was lying on the floor at her feet, she tried another mixture of drugs.

He seemed to be more aware of his surroundings now and was able to give her directions. She gave him a hand up. She made sure he had his blaster in his right hand, and then drew his left arm over her shoulders. Much of his weight was on her, but she was stronger than she looked in the current disguise. They headed down the indicated hallway to the next intersection.

Repeating this process three more times, the mismatched pair finally got to the door closest to the landing deck. The Force told her that there was danger beyond. This was unhelpful to her as they both already knew this. There was either escape or doom beyond that door. All they could do was be ready for it.

Talo’Ra checked Qet’al’s wounds again. There wasn’t much bleeding, but his color was off from what she had seen so far. His skin was hot to the touch, and yet he wasn’t sweating. When asked he said he was fine. When pressed he said he was dizzy and muscles were cramped up. He couldn’t seem to cool off at all. He was running out of time.

The apprentice made him drink some more of the water and poured some over his head. It wasn’t a perfect solution but it might buy some more time. There was no more hiding for them if they were to make it out of this situation alive. She said, “Hey... Hey! Are you still with me?” He nodded and tried to focus on her one yellow eye.

“Yeah... Yeah, I’m here. Uh... When we get out, we go to the right. At the end of the hall is a left and a short jog down. The last bit is a double door airlock.” He coughed violently and a glob of blood came up from his damaged lung. He spat it to the floor and gasped for breath leaning against the wall.

She said, “Get a grip. We’re almost there.” He nodded briefly and regretted it instantly. She poured more water on his head. It served to sharpen his senses a little in preparation for moving on. She said, “Ready?” Again a nod. She counted down from three on her free hand. On one she thrust her hand at the door and it ripped off the hinges with a terrible racket.

In a flash Talo’Ra ran through the door and jumped at the far wall. Using the Force to detect the nearest danger she turned right and pushed off the wall with her left leg into a somersault. She loosed a barrage of blaster fire into a group of invaders who were only just reacting to the sudden explosion of activity. Most died where they stood, not even knowing what had happened to them. A Duros was the only one to get off some panic fire into the wall next to him before being shot himself.

Qet’al was quick to react, however the sound of blaster fire triggered his survival instincts. He shuffled to the door and looked both ways. Seeing the bodies falling to his right he swiveled left to cover. Another group came barreling around a corner at the commotion. His right arm was still partially immobile so his aim was off. However suppressing fire doesn’t have to be accurate to be effective. He let fly indiscriminate blaster fire in their direction. Scattering to take cover they returned fire.

Using his left hand he pulled free a grenade and pressed the button. Lobbing it backhanded down the hallway and hoped for the best. The crunch of the explosion was deafening and caused a pause in all parties firing. The bolts coming down the hallway at their position only seemed slightly diminished and he cursed his injuries. He estimated that he was only operating at thirty five percent of his normal capacity. He was afraid that he would be the cause of their deaths.

The apprentice had hidden in the arch of a door for the meager cover it would give her when she saw the grenade go out. In an instant she knew it wasn’t going to land far enough to kill more than one. She also knew that she didn’t have enough time to push it further down before it went off. It was too far away to hurt her, but the flash would be blinding and she couldn’t afford that. Instead she ducked back and closed her eyes.

As soon as the explosion happened she moved. Blind blaster fire resumed after a short stunned pause. She accelerated down the hallway with the Force and dodged all bolts coming at her. Qet’al saw the blur of her form streaking past and blinked to clear his head. Surely it was his injuries and the drugs skewing his perceptions.

Again she used acrobatics to avoid the blaster bolts; jumping off walls, flips and dropping to slide on her knees. Using the Force she snatched one of the attackers and held him in front of her when she was finally close enough. Using his body as a shield she sprayed blaster fire into the remaining invaders. The shield body jerked and twitched as it was hit with multiple rounds. She threw the body at the last attacker. They both went down in a heap. Talo’Ra used the momentary entanglement to reach out with the Force and twist the head of the survivor all the way around. A sickening crunch of bones signaled another death.

She glanced around to find any danger. When there was none she returned up the passage where the Twi’lek waited and watched both directions. He had realized that she was somehow down the hallway and stopped his own fire. With his arm partially out of commission, he couldn’t even offer precision shots to aid her. She stopped to get fresh power packs from two of the bodies before reaching her new companion.

Ejecting the pack on her blaster she slammed the new one in place and charged the weapon. She said, “Swap with me.” He did and she repeated the process. “This way?” She pointed up the hallway where the first group lay dead. He nodded and they set off in that direction.

One hundred feet down he signaled a stop. His labored breathing told her that he was not going to be able to do much more. Brokenly he said, “Double door... On left... Hangar… Turrets... Guards.” She offered him some water and he sipped thankfully.

She put the canteen back on her utility webbing after drinking a bit herself. The apprentice noticed that his eyes were starting to glaze over again. Grabbing his face in both of her hands she looked directly into his eyes. “Hey. Hey! Are you there?” She lightly slapped his face and said, “Hey. I need you to snap out of it. Tell me, what is your name again?” She needed the refresher on it as well as seeing if he was lucid enough to remember.

“I... My name is Captain Qet’al Disharan. Fourth infantry strike team delta.” He shook his head the best he could in her grip and said, “That... Was a long time ago.”

She peered hard into his eyes with her own mismatched ones. “Captain, I need to know. Are you ready for one last push? It is do or die time. Are you with me?” For maybe the twentieth time in the last hour she wondered why she was going through so much effort for one man. Once again she dismissed it for lack of time to consider.

“Of... Of course. Let’s do it.” His eyes focused on her Sith yellow eye and nodded.

“Good. Now what’s inside those doors?”

“Four turrets. Two low, two high. They swivel either way. Not too accurate though. Guards there. Maybe friendly. Maybe not.”

She said, “Irrelevant. We go through them either way. Ready?”

His mental reactions were slow enough to not really register the meaning of her words and he simply said, “Let’s do it.”

They made it down the last thirty or so feet to the docking bay doors. They positioned themselves on either side and counted down. He pressed the button. She threw in a pair of grenades while there was still only a small opening between the doors. Twin explosions were followed by pained screaming and confused shouting. Qet’al started shooting at the turrets opposite him and managed to damage one of them. The higher and smaller of the two began to return fire in his general direction.

Talo’Ra opened fire on the smaller turret in her line of sight first. When it exploded in a shower of sparks she ducked back behind the wall while the heavy blaster finished its turn. The heavier gun emplacement had a slower rate of fire, but was more accurate. She cursed the lack of a lightsaber again and searched her mind for a solution.

She waited for the latest bolt to be fired and ducked down. When she heard it she leaned out just far enough to extend her left hand. Lightning sprang from her fingers and struck the turret. Sparks flew out of the controller box as everything in it overloaded. The turret went silent and slowly the barrel lowered.

Qet’al reached his weapon around the edge of the wall and took potshots at the turret peppering his position with fire. His right arm was not cooperating with him and pain grew. It fell nerveless into his lap. Pulling his blaster rifle back in with the left arm, he took hold of the pistol grip. It wasn’t perfect, but he had at least practiced some with his off hand.

Talo’Ra popped out on her side and showered blaster fire at the remaining turret. A small explosion happened and the remains fell to the floor. In that instant she looked past the emplacements and saw another group of guards hurrying over. These looked to be the actual dock guards, but she knew well the use of false flags and using uniforms of the enemy. She couldn’t take the chance.

She leaned around the wall again and set loose a sweeping barrage of blaster bolts. Qet’al joined in and fired blindly through the haze of smoke and debris. Several were injured but none were killed. They took cover behind anything they could find and started shooting back.

The Twi’lek waved his working arm to get the woman’s attention. When she looked over he lifted his right arm with the left and dropped it to show her that he was further disabled. Before she looked away he waved again and took three grenades off his harness and set them in his lap. He pointed at them, then her and finally a thumb over his shoulder into the hangar. His hand balled into a fist and suddenly opened indicating the explosion and then rested on the rifle.

She nodded her understanding as he clumsily rolled all three of them towards her. Two made it and the third stopped part way. She pulled it to her with the Force and prepared. He got his final grenade ready and looked over her way. He rested his thumb on the button and held up three fingers. He lowered one finger, a second and on the third he pressed his button. Throwing it behind him the best he could he saw her doing the same.

She pressed the buttons on her grenades as fast as she could and threw them in a wide pattern. They landed by, or behind, the bulk of the defensive forces. Each grenade exploded a second after the last. More screaming and general confusion sounded from the hangar bay. The new companions both leaned out and laid down suppressing fire, catching one of the survivors in the open. Groans of pain and suffering were the only things they heard in return when they ceased firing.

He was just starting to think they may have pulled it off when a clatter of boots sounded down the passageway behind. He twisted around the best he could and looked. A large group of invaders was rushing their position. Wild shots caromed his way and he knew he was finally dead. A trio of grenades sailed their way and he could only watch. His mind was racing at light speed, but his body was in the real world, unable to react the way he wanted.

All three grenades suddenly changed course back to where they had come from. They exploded on the front line and sent body parts flying everywhere. Talo’Ra appeared at his side and held out both hands in front of her. Torrents of lightning flooded the hallway and she walked towards the attackers. His unbelieving eyes witnessed this feat. It was an unreal sight. Lightning danced around her arms and hands before launching away to electrocute all in its path.

As the last body fell, she turned back to the hangar. Qet’al stared at her with open mouthed wonder. She reached his side and stooped to pick him up from where he sat using the Force. He regained his feet and looked around confusedly. “How-”

“No time,” she replied and pulled him by the arm into the bay. She looped his now numb arm over her shoulder when he stumbled. As expected they saw two ships there in the blinking and broken lighting systems. They were not meant to withstand such abuse. Most that would cause trouble were cowed by the turrets and armed guards. Giant explosions were not the norm.

The ship on the left had its engine compartment opened where repairs had been underway. The one on the right was a small freighter. The invaders had come from it and were in the process of loading the ‘ready to ship’ Bacta boxes. Since they only had one choice, there was no hesitation in making their way to it. She kept an eye out for any other danger as they made their way. He was losing the last of his strength and began to lean more and more heavily on her, rifle tumbling from his hand.

Dragging him up the ramp she left him by the door and went inside. The flight crew had been cowering in the cargo bay when the fighting started. She pointed her blaster at them and said, “Get this thing out of here. Fly or die.” The one furthest away made a sudden movement and was shot square in the chest. His body twitched its death throes. “Anyone else?” The three remaining crew shook their heads violently. “Good. Get moving.”

The three scrambled up to secure the ship. Talo’Ra grabbed the Twi’lek by the back of his harness and dragged him the rest of the way in. He groaned a bit as she watched the crew for treachery. They quickly made preparations to leave. While they were busy, the apprentice opened one of the cases of Bacta and pulled forth many vials. She loaded up her hypo and began injecting them into the fallen commando.

He seemed to breathe a little easier so she left him to oversee the take off. She watched as they efficiently performed their tasks in preflight safety checks and spooling up the engines. The pilot sat in his chair and strapped in like normal. He released the magnetic locks on the landing gear and goosed the throttle enough to lift the ship. Landing gear retracted as the ship backed out of the bay through the magnetic atmospheric seal.

They burned away from the station as fast as the freighter could go. Once clear of the gravity well they jumped to light speed, leaving the chaos behind.