Ro'vena wasn't sure how this mission would get any weirder, and then she found herself pointing a blaster in Luna's face.
What was stranger still was how no one seemed to be all that freaked out. Not Luna. Not Mara, or the other Nexu. Not this man Shayde. Even Fenn was cool and collected, busy at their work station. So it was just her, silently panicking beneath her helmet, her whole body vibrating with fear. Should she start shooting. No, there were too many stormtroopers surrounding her, surrounding them all. She'd be dead within seconds, and she very much wanted to make it out of this alive.
Ro'vena jumped, realising that Shayde had given her an order, though quite what that was, she had no idea. Once she saw the other stormtroopers drag the other Nexu off the floor and onto to their feet, she stowed her blaster and followed their lead, hoping that she was right. As Luna stood, the human seemed to look through her helmet, and Ro'vena's heart leapt. She knew! She knew it was her. Knew that all was not lost. But no. She looked away, looked around her, trying to assess the situation with that coolly calculated look that Ro'vena wished she could do. She needed help, now more than ever. She knew, absolutely knew with every fibre of her being that she alone held the key to getting them out of this. Ro'vena stepped away, allowing Shayde to grandstand, all the while staring at Luna, trying to convey that yes, it really was her beneath the armour. That she could be the pazaak card up her sleeve. Please. Please just tell me what to do.
And that was when the star destroyers arrived.
Ro'vena looked out the window, dumbfounded. That wasn't part of the plan. That shouldn't even have been possible. Their signals were broadcast over shortwave only. Only the other star destroyer in orbit around the planet could hear.
Unless.
Unless, she turned surrepticiously to look at Fenn. That sneaky bitch. She felt herself grin, her head and her heart giddy.
'Oops,' Luna said.
'Kill them,' Shayde hissed, his words cutting through the sound of the explosions erupting all around them.
Around her, the other stormtroopers raised their blasters to their shoulders, aimed at the Nexu. She had no option but to follow suit.
'Sir,' Vix said formally, 'I shall like permission to rage, please.'
'Not yet,' it was Hoshi who answered, and Ro'vena noticed for the first time that she had been looking at her all along. She felt something tugging at her utility belt and she looked down.
Oh, right.
Boom.
Ro'vena plucked the flash grenade from her belt, held it so that it was level to her face, and that of the other stormtroopers. She scrunched her eyes tightly shut, and pressed the button on the grenade.
Even with her eyes closed, her vision was filled with a bright, blinding white light, and her ears - well, it was like someone had flipped a switch, and her ears had simply been turned off. She wasn't even conscious of hearing the sound. She had felt the sonic shockwave, but no sound. All there was afterwards, was a loud ringing, and nothingness. She opened her eyes and found that she was laying flat on her back. She saw double. She saw two giant, hulking Devaronian laying about them, flailing wildly at the stormtroopers who had somehow doubled in number from just a moment ago. She saw two lightsabers flashing dangerously and wondered how Mara had got her hands on a lightsaber, and then she realised that, no, it was Hoshi. It was Hoshi who had transformed into her mother, into an assassin, into a devil, into death as she lay about her with an intense savagery.
Her vision began to unblur, began to return to normal, and she raised her blaster - but a hand stopped her. It took her a few seconds to understand, to realise that someone was stopping her. She blinked and finally realised that her helmet was askew. She reached up to pull it off, succeeding on the third attempt.
The image of Luna's face floated above her. She was saying something, but she couldn't hear the words.
'I did it!' she said, able to hear her own words. 'I did the thing! Where are we?' For the first time since the explosion, Ro'vena realised they were on the bridge of the star destroyer. She only had a vague recollection of getting there.
'Get up!' Luna mouthed to her, and then sound seemed to warp and crash in on her, invading her head. 'We need to go!'
Ro'vena stood, an automatic act, and looked about her. All around were the bodies of stormtroopers. Bright lights flashed about them, and she realised they were blaster shots. Who was shooting at them? Weren't they all dead? But then, as her mind returned to her, she registered the stormtroopers shooting at them from the fringes of the bridge, ducked behind control panels and terminals. She felt a hand tug at her shirt, compelling her to the turboshaft, and she ran as fast as she could on shaky legs, reaching the lift, stumbling inside. She looked up and saw Twitch, Vix, Fenn and Mara already inside, and Luna and Hoshi slowly walking backwards into the pod, one delivering a merciless covering fire, the other twirling her blade about them defensively. One they were inside, they shut the doors, the turbolift flew down the shaft, leaving Ro'vena's stomach floating up by the bridge.
'Where are the others?' Luna turned on her.
'They're,' Ro'vena paused andfrowned, not quite sure herself. She looked down at her belt, pulled her personal commlink, frowned at it, unsure what to do with it. She became very aware that she was breathing hard, and stopped. Then realised that she needed to continue breathing.
Luna pulled her own commlink from her jacket. 'Ka'iulani, Garan? Where are you?'
It was Kai who answered. 'Boom,' the Bothan shrieked happily. 'Boooom!'
And then, beneath them, the ground shook. A deep, heavy rumble shook the turbolift, the air about them, and the other Nexu fell to the floor beside Ro'vena. The explosion shook the entire ship and seemed to last forever - but then, silence descended on them.
'What was that?' Twitch asked, tremulously.
Something seemed wrong.
Something creaked above them, then below them, and Ro'vena had the feeling of her stomach being tugged at again, but something seemed wrong about it. For one, she realised suddenly, that the turbolift pod was no longer moving. Second, that she and the others were slowly sliding to the back end of the turbolift, sliding into one another until they were all one massive pile.
'Ro'vena,' said Luna, her voice steady but urgent. 'What exactly are the others up to?'
'I told them to make a distraction,' she said slowly as the ship groaned. 'I...may have told them to blow up an engine.'
Luna stared at her, open mouthed. It took Ro'vena a few seconds to come to the conclusion that she had already reached.
'Oh,' she breathed. 'Oh no.'
They had no engines to keep them in orbit.
They were going down.
And they had no way to get out.
