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Things didn't go according to plan.

They had made it to Grakkus' palace without any trouble. It was an enormous building, square and clay-colored, with a cavernous, decked out entrance hall that was already filling up when they entered. The party had been easy to join, with plenty of edges and corners to slip into, to watch the other guests, and to follow the Hutt's triumphant entrance as he introduced his prize. The crowd wasn't given much of a look at it, surprising no one, only assurances that it was highly valued by the Empire. It looked like nothing more than a large black box, and they had watched as it was carted away, down one of the side halls. Chopper had slipped away to see if he could plug into the palace's computer system, while Hera and Kanan slowly set off toward their quarry. And then –

It's about an hour and a half later, and Hera can still hear the music from the party, the bass beating through the dusty walls, even a whisper of the talk of the revelers. Which is all the more impressive given that she must be at least two floors beneath it, in a small, dark cell. There's a flickering lamp in the ceiling, and a small, barred window in the door, filtering in the dim light from the hallway. Hera is sitting on the floor, her hands shackled to the wall on either side of her. She can feel the low buzz of the shock collar against her throat, but she's not paying much attention to it.

Instead, she has spent most of the last ten minutes trying to contort herself to get close enough to kick Kanan in the shins. He hasn't moved since he was stunned with some kind of electrorod Hera had never seen before. It must've really packed a punch, because he's been out for nearly thirty minutes, as Hera finally manages to shove her feet close enough to him to stamp against his leg.

"Kanan!" she hisses. "Kanan, wake up!"

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"Here it is."

The staircase is wide and not too high. They can see the landing, which for the moment still looks clear. "You focus on getting it up there," she says, taking out her blaster and moving into position behind him.

"Can do," Kanan says, not even moving his hands off the crate long enough to toss off a salute. He just grits his teeth and shoves, keeping most of his focus on his feet, because slipping out here would lose them time they can ill afford.

"One level up, right?"

Kanan's already moving before Hera can answer.

He can do this. They can do this.

And there is definitely not going to be anyone waiting for them at the top of these stairs. If he believes it hard enough, maybe it'll even happen.

Edited 2018-02-11 02:38 (UTC)

"Right."

There's the blare of blasterfire, and Hera returns it, quickly stunning the guard that's first to reach them. A sentry droid follows, but by the time it reaches the base they're nearly at the upper landing, and Hera can hear voices beyond shouting in Huttese.

"They're coming up here to cut us off," she calls, after blasting the droid.

"Not sure I can go any faster," Kanan says, taking one hand off the crate in order to loosen his own blaster in its holster. They're going to need two of them firing soon, he can tell that much.

"But this thing is definitely heavy enough to bludgeon someone with."

Just in case.

"Hey, you!" Comes the shout of a new set of guards up at the top of the stairwell. "Try running like this." Maybe if they were closer, Kanan and Hera would hear the sound of a button being pushed.

As it is, the results are underwhelming. Which is useful, since neither Hera nor Kanan collapses to the ground like electrified puppets with their strings cut.

Hera takes their moment of confusion to fire, easily picking them off. She motions ahead and to the right. "It's just up there."

She lets Kanan push ahead, but pulls the second smoke grenade from her pocket as more footfalls approach them, and tosses it behind them as they run, hopefully buying them the time they need to reach the door.

Fortunately, they're able to reach the door before the guards choose to start firing randomly through the smoke. Hera jumps ahead to shove the door open for Kanan, so that he lead the way out onto the windy, Nar Shaddaa night.

The ledge is a lot narrower than Kanan was hoping for, given Zeb's comparative skills as a pilot. But at least Chopper's already out there, beeping and blatting crankily at the fact that Kanan's been slowing Hera down this whole time!

Kanan doesn't roll his eyes, just shoves the crate in Chopper's direction, then draws his blaster and turns to lay down some covering fire of his own.

"Come on, Specter-4," he mutters. "Come on."

The sound of the Ghost's engines dropping out of the sky in their direction is like the sweetest music.

Unfortunately, their pursuers are already at the door, and Hera flinches back as blasterfire flashes out from below the ledge. She looks up to the Ghost, roaring down toward them, its bay already opening. But she can tell it'll be too far. Getting the crate up to it, giving it the cover to fly low enough -

Hera glances back toward the door as it bursts open, and then yells -

"Specter-3, leave your detonators and get to the Ghost. We'll follow."

"I can't say this isn't going almost exactly how I thought it would," Kanan bites out, punctuating every other word with a shot from his blaster.

He backs up toward Chopper's position, reaching down behind himself to pick up the detonators and moving back toward Hera.

It's a good thing he's got some skills at ducking, because the guards haven't stopped firing at all, even with all of Hera's good covering shots.

"You get the charges set, I'll cover your back."

Of the two of them, she's definitely the best person for that job, so --

Hera ducks down to switch to Kanan's place, avoiding the fire from below them. She picks up the handful of detonators Chopper leaves behind for blasting up toward the Ghost, then opens the crate again, throwing one of its side panels down from the ledge, at those firing at them from below.

As fast as she can, Hera places the detonators and her own charges around the equipment, doing her best to ensure it will be entirely destroyed. With another glance up to the Ghost, as it shakily lowers down toward them -

"Spectre-1, get ready -"

Edited 2018-02-11 05:13 (UTC)

Kanan has already started backing up toward the Ghost's eventual position, firing his blaster at intervals to keep the guards at least a little ways back.

He's reaching out with the Force at the same time, reading himself in case he and Hera need some extra help on a jump. They're not dying here today.

(And if seeing all the Jedi paraphernalia has made this the slightest bit less painful, or easier, because memories are still stirring up in the back of his mind . . . he'll have time to put them back down after.)

"I'm on it, Spectre-2."

Hera finishes setting the explosives, then looks up to the Ghost once more.

"That's as low as he can get."

It's still well beyond their reach, but she looks up, along the slanted palace walls. "We'll have to meet him. I'm starting it, ten seconds -"

Kanan, still firing his blaster, reaches out with his free hand to grab Hera's wrist.

He reaches out into the Force at the same time, readying himself to push against the ground and propel them up along the wall. It's the only way to get enough height, and even then --

No. It's the only way to get enough height. They'll make it. He can do this.

Several more shots from his blaster, keeping the guards back at least a little ways, and it's about time to go.

"Now!"

Hera jumps up next to Kanan, wrapping one arm around his shoulder. She feels the heavy shift of her weight as she tries to stay balanced against him, the sloped palace wall beneath her feet, hears the blasterfire and crackle of the ledge beneath them shattering -

And then there's the explosion. The force of the blast, and the heat of the flames bursting forth behind them.

Hera never looks away from the Ghost above them, from the ramp they're climbing up toward.

Kanan harnesses a bit of the force of the blast, using it to propel them upward, supported by the Force. They have to keep the pace up, because there's only so long he can hold both their weight.

Out of practice, out of practice

But that doesn't matter, can't matter. He reaches deep, redoubling his efforts, and soon the boarding ramp of the Ghost is centimeters out of their reach. He shoves Hera up ahead of him, to make sure she actually hits the ramp full-body, and pushes himself off after, perfectly willing to have to hang on by his fingertips for a few moments.

It'll be fine!

Hera hits the ramp, curling her fingers into the metal plating before reaching her right hand back to take hold of Kanan's shoulder.

"Kanan, come on -"

Kanan grunts with effort as he hauls himself up, relying on Hera's pull more than he might like to believe he would.

"Whoever told you this was easy was a dirty liar," he says, but he does make it up onto the ramp and start hustling inside the ship.

"Nice job with the explosion, by the way."

Edited 2018-02-11 18:38 (UTC)

The moment Kanan pulls himself up onto it, the ramp begins to retract up into the ship. Hera follows him on board, reaching for her comm as she climbs up into the ship.

"Zeb, get us out of here!"

Chopper's waiting for them, already blatting indignantly as the ramp closes and the ship jerks upward. But Hera stops for a second, pulling herself up against the cargo bay wall and breathing heavily, resting her hands on her knees as she leans forward.

"Are you -" She takes another deep breath, then, "Are you okay?"

Kanan sags into a crouch, too, leaning back against the wall, head tilted upward, breathing.

Just breathing.

"No. But now's not the time for me to not be okay, so I'll -- I'll hold on until we're safely somewhere else. That was -- "

He swallows. Hard.

"I wasn't expecting that. For the Hutt to have . . . "

The ship rocks sideways, so hard Hera nearly loses her balance, and she doesn't need the comm to hear Zeb shouting down at them, "I could use some help up here!"

"I -"

She's already running for the ladder, to climb up and into the ship. "I'm sorry, Kanan, I'll -"

"Go, go!"

He takes a deep breath, standing up.

"I'll go man the guns. Go!"

Kanan's fine. He's completely fine. And there's still work to be done before they're safely away.

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