Shots Fired/Part 10

"People who walk the skyways of Coruscant their whole lives will never know what it is to feel the real earth beneath their feet," Senator Iltek boomed. "But they know what it means that Taanab remains a key world of the Republic. It means the inner systems eat.  It means our brave soldiers and our valiant Jedi Knights eat.  Taanab's faithfulness means the Republic stands!"

There was too much clapping to dismiss it as a smattering, but Tirien could sense the crowd wasn't wholly moved, either. Iltek stood on a raised platform, facing some two hundred gathered farmers, ranchers, and shipyard techs. Beyond immediate earshot, other Taanabians continued to go about their business, hauling hovercarts of flash-frozen meats or pallets of foodstuffs, occasionally yelling to one another. The entire sprawling complex smelled of flesh and mushrooms mixed with engine grease and sentient sweat. Local Taanab police were on hand to prevent major disruptions, but Iltek had insisted on being as close to his constituents as possible, and so only his personal guards, including the two disguised Jedi, separated him from the crowd.

Narasi was off to one side of the platform, Tirien on the other; the Zygerrian had her lightsaber where a guard's stun baton would be, while Tirien had slipped his curved-hilt weapon into the sidearm holster. He could sense his Padawan's edginess, as well as the spectrum of unease through distaste to loathing from those guards nearest her, but he tried to ignore them all. He had left Narasi largely to her own devices, hoping she would work to form an understanding of their mission, but she seemed to have caved to the dislike of the Humans and spent most of their trip in solitary meditation. Tirien, who had spent the same time coordinating with Iltek's chief of security, had let it go, but it reinforced his impression that she wasn't ready for fieldwork.

He tried to concentrate on Iltek's speech to keep himself focused, but for all the man's reassurances that Taanab was "a key vertebra is the backbone of the Republic" and that "when the Sith scourge is eradicated, the Core Worlds will remember Taanab", it was obvious the assembled crowd was on edge. With the New Sith Empire advancing, pastoral backwaters could become blood-soaked battlefields without warning, and the people knew it. Whispers of tension and disquiet seeped through the Force.

"I have three kids and bills to pay," a female Human called up; Iltek had stopped to take questions. "I don't know much about all your budget, but I know this war's expensive! How do I know I can keep feeding my family?"

"Armies need to eat," Iltek reminded her. "And Taanab answers that need. I promise you that Taanab will never get shortchanged for its people's work as long as I'm in the Senate!"

This time the applause was a smattering, and a man called, "But that just makes us a bigger target for the Sith!"

As Iltek went on about the strength of the Republic Navy and the intrepidity of the Jedi, Tirien tuned him out again. There were too many avenues of attack; a caravan of hoverdolleys laden with food, a catwalk connecting an administrative office with a shipping dock, and six different wide-open corridors leading to Iltek's chosen venue. It put him at the crossroads of the distribution center and assured him an audience, but Tirien and Iltek's chief of security had been united in their concerns. If the Sith had prepared a coordinated attack, they could not have asked for a better shooting gallery.

Drawing on the Force to remain calm and alert, Tirien found his eyes shifting back to the catwalk. A few beings had stopped to listen to Iltek, but most were coming and going without paying the Human any mind. An Ithorian led a handful of animals on as many leashes; several Humans argued about figures on their datapads. A Weequay holding a pipe shifted his weight nervously, trying not to watch the speech…

Tirien frowned and began to work his way toward Iltek; he felt slightly repulsed and nauseated in a way that had nothing to do with the animal stink in the air. As he stepped onto the dais, he noticed a red-haired woman with a tray of machinery pick out a long tube, then take a piece from a passing Human with a nod. She clipped it onto her tube as a stock, took the pipe from the Weequay, slid it into the contraption as the barrel of…

"Catwalk!" Tirien heard Narasi's voice. "Shooter on the catwalk!"

Tirien pushed a guard aside, pulled his lightsaber from his holster, and leapt for it. He just made it; as his green blade snap-hissed to life, the redhead dropped to a kneeling shooter's stance with her assembled rifle and fired. Tirien caught the beam of scarlet energy on the edge of his lightsaber blade, and it ricocheted off into a wall. As Iltek staggered back and people gasped breath for what would become screams, Tirien parried a second shot that would have spilled Iltek's guts over the floor.

By the third shot he had positioned himself in front of the senator, and he turned it and the fourth harmlessly into the ceiling. He had enough control by the fifth to send it back at the shooter, and though it impacted the railing a meter to her left, she clearly knew the game was up. The Jedi caught a flash of annoyance amidst the screams from the crowd and belated cries from Iltek's guards. As he started forward, the woman rose, then fired down randomly into the crowd; Tirien gritted his teeth as four different life signatures winked out.

The murders turned the frightened crowd into a sentient stampede, and Tirien staggered back, unable to force himself into the welter without risking amputating limbs on his blade. He saw the sniper smile vindictively and race for the edge of the catwalk.

Narasi appeared at his side as he made to follow; she had discarded her helmet, and her blue eyes filled her face, matching the glow of her own blade. "Master!"

"Protect the senator!" Tirien barked, holding his lightsaber out to warn off the crowd.

"But—"

Tirien spared her no more concentration; the assassin was getting away. With a growl he thrust his hands outwards, and the Force made a way for him, hurling citizens sideways and pushing them atop each other. Enough of a channel was cleared, only a single dead body left in the way, that he got a running leap and the Force buoyed him up to the catwalk. Catching its edge, he hauled himself up. The sniper was just at the edge of his vision, but she seemed to sense his approach, and she turned and fired. Even on reflex her accuracy was astonishing; only Tirien's quick deflection saved him from a shot that would have decapitated him. She completed her turn and ran, and the Jedi gave chase.

Citizens were flattened against the corridor wall to avoid the lightsaber and the blasterfire, and Tirien pushed himself hard to follow. He only realized the way was a little too clear when a Rodian detached himself from the wall and opened fire.

Tirien parried on reflex, but quickly realized he was surrounded. Calling on the Force for speed, he dodged gunfire from four different directions, lightsaber moving at blinding speed to deflect their shots. The Rodian, a Human, an Ishi Tib…their faces blurred. He missed the fourth one entirely, acting wholly on instinct. He tried to dodge through the welter, creeping closer, within range to take off the barrel of a blaster or the hand holding it.

"Master!"

Tirien almost caught a blaster bolt in the shoulder as he looked toward the sound of her voice. Narasi was racing toward the fight, her startled expression hardening into resolution. She snarled through her fangs and leapt into a sweeping slash; as the Ishi Tib rounded on her, Narasi's blue blade burned through his midsection, searing stomach and lungs.

The Ishi Tib choked, dropping his blaster and lurching forward; carried by her own momentum, Narasi landed right in him. He scrabbled at her collar, choking until he coughed green blood in her face. Narasi's eyes widened in horror, and the dying alien collapsed on her as she tried to back away. When the Rodian shot at her, he hit his own comrade in the back, and as Narasi tried to bring her blade to guard, it passed through the Ishi Tib's body and hacked him in half. The pieces dropped at her feet, and Tirien sensed her wave of revulsion.

The shooters had been distracted by their comrade's gruesome fate, but Narasi looked so horrorstruck that they took aim at her on instinct, forgetting, for a split second, the more dangerous enemy in their midst. Tirien sensed her belated wariness and knew she would not get to guard in time.

His Force push flattened the Rodian and the Human into opposite walls. The last shooter got off a single shot at Narasi before Tirien closed the distance and struck from behind, opening his spine from tailbone to skull. As he was still falling, the Pantoran Jedi spun into a darting lunge that put his blade through the Human's heart. He tore the blade free and spun into a final slash that decapitated the Rodian.

He rounded on Narasi, eyes alive with intensity, and found her standing at Jedi ready with shaking hands, her blue blade wobbling like a high-speed metronome. She looked at the gore caking her hands. "I—"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Tirien demanded.

She started, ears flattening back. "I…you needed help, and they told me they could protect—"

"I told you to stay with Iltek!" Tirien roared at her, and she flinched. "Get back to him, NOW!"

He watched her turn shakily before rounding after the assassin, but even as Tirien pulled the Force to himself to enhance his speed he knew it was hopeless. The corridor started to blur around him, the terrified Taanabians seeming to move in slow motion, but by the time he reached the docking bay there were already three security personnel lying dead on the deckplates. Across the hangar he caught a glimpse of red hair ducking into a shuttle's ramp; he desperately seized a nearby container with the Force, but it bounced harmlessly off the durasteel. She turned, and even from that distance Tirien could sense her fury. Three containers nearby leapt off the floor at him, and Tirien had to flatten himself to the ground to avoid being crushed.

By the time he got to his feet, the shuttle was already lifting off. Feeling a disturbing sense of déjà vu, Tirien reached for it with the Force, and it slowed, but the pilot dropped the underbelly cannon and fired at the crowd of citizens filling the docking bay. For a brief moment Tirien held his grip as screams and the shriek of rent metal filled the air. Then he gritted his teeth, remembered he was a Jedi, and let the shuttle go, watching it race for the stars.