Shots Fired/Part 11

The backup assassins had killed half of Iltek's guards by the time Tirien came on the scene. Narasi stood in front of the senator, deflecting blasterfire with her lightsaber. She was not sure the senator would be safe if she advanced on the assassins for the kill, and even as she thought of it, she remembered the horrible stink of the dying Ishi Tib's insides. Her stomach churned, and she almost missed a deflection. Senator Iltek himself was struggling to remain on his feet behind her, turning pale as he clenched a smoking hole in the left sleeve of his robe.

As Tirien came up behind them, one of the assassins pulled out a grenade. Narasi's eyes widened, but she steadied her stance in front of the senator, resolved to protect him; I am a Jedi she thought. But as the assassin threw the grenade, she felt Tirien touch the Force, and the grenade stayed in place. In the brief moment before it detonated, the assassin seemed to realize how wrong things had gone, because he gave a high shriek and covered his face, which did nothing to save him from being shredded by shrapnel a second later. Two more assassins were all but disintegrated by the blast. Narasi raised her hands to protect herself, trying to raise a shield of energy, but though the heat crisped her fur, she felt her master's stronger powers bolstering hers, and the shrapnel scattered around her harmlessly. A fourth shooter flew back with the concussion, smacking into a wall and dropping in a daze; Tirien casually cut his dropped blaster in half as he advanced.

The sudden quiet was profound, marred only the groans of the wounded and the hiss of escaping steam from pipes in the service corridor. Releasing a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, Narasi deactivated her lightsaber, clipping it onto her belt on the second try; her shaking hand missed the first. Most of the guards swarmed Senator Iltek while two went to restrain the surviving assassin.

She looked up at the Pantoran, trying to find the words to convey her rush of emotions, but the icy look on his face strangled her voice. She shrank back as Tirien knelt beside Iltek. "Are you all right, Senator?"

"Flesh wound," the Human said, offering a brave smile, though Narasi saw his jaw trembling. "The sniper?"

Tirien shook his head.

"Pity," Iltek said. Leaning on Tirien, he struggled to his feet, hissing as one of his men tried to support him on the other side. "Aaaahh. Maybe a bacta patch there, Chelly.  Well, you have my thanks, Master Jedi."

"Both of you," he added to Narasi, smiling at her before looking back at Tirien. "Your Padawan's very brave. I'd have had a lot more holes to go with this one if she hadn't been here."

Narasi tried to find some enthusiasm for his praise; his smile was pure gratitude, untempered by the knowledge that he was smiling at a Zygerrian. Even his guards had a sense of respect in the Force, but Tirien only nodded to the compliment.

Before they could continue, Narasi felt a flash of danger in the Force, and she reached for her lightsaber automatically as Tirien brought his up before Iltek. An instant later, the downed assassin suddenly elbowed one of the guards in the face, drew a syringe from his free sleeve, and injected it into his wrist.

"No!" Tirien snapped, leaping forward, and with a dopplering slash his lightsaber took off the man's forearm. But the poison moved faster; even as the assassin howled, his severed limb flopping to the floor, the smoking stub bubbled and turned green, and the howl choked off as the veins in the man's neck suddenly darkened. The other guard holding him released him in disgust, and the assassin sank to his knees, thick yellow liquid streaming from his eyes. He collapsed sideways, dead a second later.

Tirien growled in frustration, and Narasi sensed her master restraining himself with difficulty as he closed down his blade.

"No other survivors?" he demanded, and one of Iltek's guards shook his head. The Jedi Knight took a deep breath, then gestured past him. "Get the senator to his ship."

They moved off, and Narasi followed until Tirien caught her shoulder, pulling her to a stop. She wondered if there was more to the attack than he wanted to say in front of others, but as she caught his hard expression, a shiver ran down her spine.

"How many of them were dead before you got back?" he asked, indicating the fallen guards.

Narasi looked at the bodies, swallowing and trying to remember. "I…I think those two? I remember these three getting shot while I was here…I was trying to protect Senator Itelk, and they were too far away…"

Her master waved off the last comment. "You were guarding Iltek, that was your job." His tone made the words a castigation. "But the other two were dead before you got back?"

"Yes, master, I think so."

Tirien looked at her. "Then their blood is on your hands. I told you to stay with the senator.  Let's go."

And he turned to follow Iltek's party, leaving Narasi standing amidst the corpses of the slain, looking at the spattered Ishi Tib on her claws and feeling her world falling away inside her.