“Here’s where we earn our money!” said Trick, quoting bounty hunter slang. The repaired Shaadlar ship stood in as big of a clearing as they had dared put it in and still be hidden from orbital scans. Even now, a pair of basilisk droids were clearing the trees around them, sawing through their trunks with fusion cutters and dragging them away from the ship. The droids would reattach to the ship’s hulls just before they launched.
Inside the ship, those Mandalorians who were not at their stations crowded about Trick at the helm. “Sound off, gentlemen!” Trick called, followed by a cascade of the other bridge officers responding with “go”, “clear”, and “green!” Trick exchanged one last look with Kellaro, then started the engines.
They roared into life, and with a little nudge, the Shaadlar rose steadily into the air.
“All still good?” Trick called.
“Starboard engine’s a little twitchy, sir, but it should last,” called one Mando.
“The basilisks are recalled,” said another. “Attaching,” which was followed by the soft clunks and grinding noises of the Mandalorian droids clinging onto the hull.
“Then we’re away!” Trick shouted, and the Shaadlar, creaking only a little, blasted off into space.
They cleared the cloud layer just as the Republic cruiser nosed around the bend of the planet. “Missed the window by a minute,” Trick muttered. “Engine bay! Status on the hyperdrive?”
“Charging, sir. Give it a few minutes.”
“We don’t have a few minutes–”
WHAM! The first turbolaser punctuated Trick’s statement, followed by blaring of alarms. Trick reached over to shut them off exasperatedly, while Kellaro stared out the window, watching, waiting, for the beaming of white light that would herald the use of the Republic’s mega-weapon.
“Wait a second…” he breathed.
Mandalorians ran around him as they manned their battle stations. Two of the basilisk droids detached again, fighting the disturbance from the planet as they honed their sensors on the Republic ship. The cruiser was coming around, the white beam of their deadly weapon beginning to power up.
“We’re too late,” said Trick.
“Accelerate forward!” Kellaro suddenly cried out.
Trick wheeled on him. “Are you mad?”
“You trusted me with the ‘walking’. Trust me now!”
The beam blared and hit them straight on, and the entire Shaadlar shuddered as it lost a bit of altitude. Cursing, Trick pressed forward on the controls.
“They only have that weapon on one side,” Kellaro babbled in excitement. “This ship is built to cling to other ships. So let’s just…cling on the far side. The only thing they have over there is turbolasers, and we can take that!”
Trick looked at him, as did Anslor from his place near the top of the bridge. His helmet hid his expression, but Trick suddenly slapped the console and guffawed. “It might just work!”
Anslor shook his head, but he gave the order with a gesture. The Republic ship didn’t seem to know what to make of them, as the Shaadlar blasted at them, then past them, then flipped around and extended its legs to grab onto their hull. There were faint groanings from the undercarriage as the Shaadlar nestled itself close, snug as a tick against a dog’s scalp.
“Fire on those turrets!” Trick roared.
“Engine bay! Give me an ETA on the hyperdrive!”
“Just a couple more minutes, sir!”
“You said that last time!”
“Yeah, but this time I really mean it!”
Kellaro stared out the window, fingers clenched into fists. Anslor came up beside him. “If this doesn’t work, Lok’kar, we’re dead meat.”
“Well. Then it was nice flying with you, sir,” answered Kellaro.
More turret fire ricocheted off the hull, including one shot that nearly took out the bridge.
“One minute!” screamed the comms from the engine bay.
“Standard or Corellian?”
“Standard, sir! 30 seconds!”
“Detach and set angle! Prepare to make the jump to lightspeed!”
Another crash; the Republic was now firing on the ship’s legs. It inadvertently made them quicker in pulling away.
“Detached, sir. They figured out our plan, and are coming around.”
“We won’t make it!”
“Yes, we will. They won’t…”
Kellaro watched as the cruiser slowly began to spin. Even though the weapon wasn’t locked on, he could see its white-blue light growing steadily, as the deadly beam sought them out. A hundred meters, twenty meters, then a foot…
“We’re clear!”
“Hit it!” screamed Trick. “Hit it, hit it, HIT IT!”
Then all Kellaro saw was streaks of blue.