Kel Dor and the Kaleesh

Race to the Capital

As the transport sped down the path between the jagged mountains, Emi Takori stood atop keeping look out while Boost drove and Wolffe sat below her. All of the remaining Kel Dorian hostages were inside safe. Emi thought this large vehicle moved quite fast despite its size. She had been on sail barges and infiltrated AAT battle tanks that moved quickly as well.

She opened the hatch below to check on the hostages. "Is everyone all right?" 

"We're holding up young Jedi, your clone is a good driver. But what of the Separatists?" One of them answered,

Emi glanced at the path behind them, "We certainly left them angry, so no guarantee we're out of this yet. Once we reach the capital, you'll be safe,"

Then the comm link on her wrist began to beep. Plo Koon was contacting her, "Emi, I have just arrived at the capital with Ton Ko and the women and children. There has been no sign of Ventress yet but her presence is still felt. I will deal with her if she comes, what is your status?"

"I've got cargo transport heading towards the capital containing your people, but I suspect the Separatists will try something before we can make it to you, so I'm on high alert here," She replied,

"You're doing wonderful dear Emi, if you have problems, contact me. The Seperatists will not take you rescuing my people lightly. What about General Grievous?"

Emi turned to look at her rear and then to the front again, "We left him pretty angry Master Plo..." She paused and felt a presence drawing closer and closer, "I'll get back to you later, if I get in trouble I'll contact you," 

She turned the comm link off and shut her eyes briefly to connect, it was Grievous she could sense, his presence was weak at first but growing stronger by each passing second. Then she opened her eyes and just as she turned around there was something moving behind them, fast, swift, creating a dust cloud behind it, and two plasma rounds emerged from the blur straight for them.

"Brace for impact!" Emi shouted, as the shot hit the transport in the rear shaking everything. 

"What's going on up there? The people are freaking out!" Boost shouted,

Emi glanced at the incoming speeder, it had a single large wheel with two guns mounted on each side, and there was Grievous in the seat in the center of the wheel. He was gaining on them fast.

"Boost, take evasive action and get everyone to hold onto something, it's going to be a bumpy ride! Wolffe, help me out!" She ordered, and stood on top of the rig igniting her lightsaber.

Grievous was enraged and began firing more rounds towards the top at her, and she deflected them. 

"Your aiming is off Grievous, that's not like you!"

Grievous growled, "You'll regret that Takori..." He paused and then coughed as he drew closer, "You'll regret all that you've done to me!"

Emi wanted to laugh, she loved it when he was angry, and it reminded of the look on his face when she escaped his ship when her master had come to save her.

"Boost, quick turn!" She yelled, and then the rig swerved down the path to the right into the deep valley. It didn't take long for Grievous to follow them. 

They were in a valley with tight twists and turns similar to the one they had passed through on the way to the mine, Emi only hoped this was the right way to the capital. She held onto the bar with one hand and deflected Grievous's shots with her lightsaber in the other. Nothing inside made her wish he would give it up, she liked the excitement.

The tight turns came as they swerved left and right. Grievous started to drive along the side of the mountain, and Emi was missing his shots. The rig began to take damage, and pieces of metal flew off like leaves from a tree.

"Wolffe, shake him off, we can't take too much damage!" Emi demanded,

"Eat laser metalhead!" Wolffe shouted and he fired machine gun rounds at the bike. The shots came in bursts of blue and within seconds, Grievous was spinning out of control on his bike like a giant top.

"That should slow him down, keep going for the capital!" 

They continued through the valley twisting their way through all the tight turns, but just as they came around another corner, Grievous was seen again on the ledge above to her left. He turned the guns towards her once again.

Emi readied her lightsaber to deflect once again and blocked two of the incoming shots, the third one however, ended up striking the rig once again. The front of it caught fire quickly at her feet and she stomped on it hard to try and put it out.

Grievous laughed, "It seems you're in trouble now Takori! I've got you this time!"

If I have to fight, I will.....Emi thought, there was no getting out of it this time. Grievous sped alongside of them on the high ground for a long while continuing to fire straight at her, while Emi deflected the blasts as best she could.

"Commander Takori, he's reaching the end of his path! I've got something for him!" Wolffe informed her.

"Do it, we need to keep him off of us."

Wolffe fired his machine gun rounds again and this time it struck right in the large wheel. Grievous growled and sped faster. Tiny pebbles began to fall from above and one of them jammed into the large wheel.

"No no! Not this time!" He yelled as his speeder began to stop rolling, he reached for the main gun as he started to reach edge and fired at the last minute.

The blast came without warning and collided with the rig causing it to tilt and shake. Emi lost her balance and fell off as it kept moving. She hit the ground hard and felt her whole body ache, it was not a far fall, but still a painful one. She looked at Grievous's wrecked speeder bike crashing down the ledge and knew there was only one thing she could do now. 

The rig started to turn around, and Boost's voice was heard in her comm link.

"We're coming back Commander Takori, hang in there!"

Emi answered as she grunted in minor pain, "No Boost, keep going! The safety of Master Plo's people are the priority. Grievous wants me, not them! We keep innocent lives out of this, now don't worry about me and get to the capital. Once they are safe then you can send someone back for me,"

"But Commander Takori...."

"GO! That's an order!" Then she terminated the contact and slowly got to her feet.

The rig became smaller until it was just a brown speck in horizon between the mountains. This is it, it's just us now, if I'm going to die, it'll be with honor. I'm not going to fight because I've been desiring it for a long time, I'm fighting to keep the peace, to save innocent lives, and to restore freedom as a Jedi should be when they are forced to fight.

She then turned her focus back to the crashed speeder bike several meters away, and spotted Grievous crawling out of the destruction.