Metamorphic: A Star Wars Story

Chapter V

REINA TAUTASKI

The platform was too silent upon their arrival. Their group stepped out into the open, the dry, suffocating smog of Lola Sayu flooding Reina's sinuses with the sensation of a thousand stinging ants. The shuttle sat, no less suspicious than before, on the platform with two B1's guarding the ramp idly. Kenobi clocked the anti-air turrets positioned around the platform, frowning slightly in that way that he did when he could see a problem arising from twenty klicks out. As they approached the guards, one predictably stepped forward to intercept.

"Where are you going with these prisoners?" Its tinny voice gargled over the hot wind that baked the air, half-audible. It was fine. They had rehearsed for this moment.

"We're transferring these prisoners to Point Tarron." their fake escort said, admittedly sounding pretty confident.

It was impossible for a battle droid to have body language, but the unnerving stillness of the machine set alarm bells singing in Reina's head.

"Point Tarron?" it challenged suspiciously. "There's no outpost there."

Piell tensed next to her, involuntarily triggering her own body to prepare for a fight. They all suspected which way this would go, but she held off her reaction - not until the first blaster bolt flew free.

"It's new." their reprogrammed droid lied, a rather impressive feat for its limited processing power. R2 intervened with a few barked orders in Binary. "We have orders. We're coming aboard."

Precisely three heartbeats of silence passed as the droid clearly fought with several calculations of whether it should accept the excuse as permissible evidence that they were telling the truth. Then, in the one, singular stroke of good luck they'd experienced since being planetside, the droid stepped back and nodded them through. It seemed far too easy for their luck.

Irksomely, Reina's cynic thought was proven right half a second later as the same guard abruptly raised its blaster to Kenobi and cocked its head inquisitively, as if listening. A small ker-clunk came from its central body, one which every person who had spent more than five minutes around an active battle droid knew; the releasing of the hydraulic valves which allowed them greater freedom of movement for combat.

Kenobi was the first to act, his lightsaber slipping into his palm from his sleeve as he bisected the droid faster than it could process the existence of the weapon. The second guard was taken out a split second later from the smoking barrel of their B1 escort's blaster. Deep bass rattled through the metal landing pad as the anti-air turrets spring to life, smothering the platform with their fire and scattering the group.

Reina sprinted for the nearest section of cover, vaguely aware of Cody and a couple of clones splitting off to their right. Skidding behind the protection of some storage containers, she picked the platform apart mentally for some avenue to reach the shuttle without being blown to smithereens. Edging to the other end of the containers, she gained a line of sight on Cody and the clones, of whom were doing their best to disable the turrets from their awkward angle on them. Cold light spilled onto the platform from the entrance to the prison, as a small battalion of droids rolled out, blasters warm and ready to fire.

A blue bolt whizzed across her vision and embedded itself in the chest of one of the droids manning the turrets. Grapple hooks scrabbled over the edge of the platform behind them and sank their teeth into the grooves of the metal, two familiar Jedi quickly appearing in their wake to join Captain Rex. Protecting the lines as the remainder of their party clambered onto the platform, they ducked behind the containers, barrels smoking and lightsabers singing in the haze. A handful of their ARC troopers diverted from their group to support Cody. Anakin and Ahsoka looked filthy and worn, but otherwise unharmed along with the rest of their team. Grapple guns smoked in hand, overheated from the speed of their ascent.