Ouroboros

Fifteen

Fifteen:

Tamini was smaller than expected, a blue-skinned alien in a scarlet toga with a bulky bag strapped over her back who only reached Poe's waist. Her big yellow eyes stared ahead, the lids blinking side to side over the bulbous green pupils as she walked swiftly along the tube-like walkway towards the dock where the Millennium Falcon was waiting. Finn and Chewie were holding supplies which the Wookiee had gathered while they negotiated for the healer with the odious and very demanding Kolb. Her hairless head tilted as she glanced up at the three shapes accompanying her.

"So this man...he Force Sensitive?" she asked. Absently, Poe nodded.

"Yeah-you could say that," he admitted, walking ahead. Tamini frowned, her pointed teeth gleaming in the harsh lights. She had dealt with humanoids for decades and had a wealth of practical experience in dealing with humanoids-including non-verbal language.

"What mean?" she asked, her translator removing any emotion from her tone.

"Yeah-he uses the Force," Finn added, pausing and frowning. He glanced back over his shoulder and then back along the corridor. Chewie gave a low growl as Poe paused.

"Finn...?" he asked. The former stormtrooper shook his head.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this."Poe rolled his eyes.

"Well that ain't good, buddy," he commented and accelerated. Tamini glanced from man to man, her expression concerned.

"Should I be worried?" she asked softly but Poe flashed her a quick grin.

"We promised Kolb you'd be safe, Healer Tamini and I can guarantee that you will be safe," he said with absolute confidence. On pain of death and our very own bounties. Yeah, well done, Poe!

"And yet what you said makes no sense," Tamini murmured. "What happened to your friend? I cannot help him if you don't give me all the information I need..." They walked along the corridor in silence for a few moments.

"He was meditating...and then...he was struck down," Finn explained, his brow furrowed. Tamini inspected him, blinking rapidly.

"Is he Jedi?" she asked as Finn and Poe shared a swift look.

"Not really," Poe murmured. "Pretty much the opposite..."

"Sith?" The healer had stopped.

"Don't think so...quite..." Poe admitted as the healer stared down the corridor and then back behind them. There was a whine and then, with terrible slowness, an explosion blossomed just beyond the bulkhead behind them.

"KRIFF!" Finn snapped as alarms sounded and a rash of red lights erupted across the partially-corroded panel on the wall. Muttering under his breath, he turned and sprinted for the distant docking bay as Poe turned, then lifted the healer and ran for it as well, heading off after the shambling Chewie. There were cracks appearing in the corridor and he could hear the muted hiss of a slight leak of gas from the atmosphere out into the icy cold beyond. A glance to the right through the plasticlere of the windows revealed the white pinhole jets as their air began to vent. He glanced over his shoulder as the bulkhead sealed behind them, shutting them off from the main body of Kineva Station. "What was that?"

"An explosion!" Poe quipped, accelerating. Chewie was already through the last bulkhead and moving with surprising rapidity up the ramp into the Falcon. Another explosion, much closer had Finn and Poe stumbling and they stared in horror as the corridor behind them shredded. Finn scrambled to the bulkhead and slammed his hand onto the panel as the suction of vacuum began to tug at them. The echoing slam of the bulkhead had them all gasping as Tamini made a shrill sound of distress.