Nico's Gambit

The Works

The lift door opened and instantly the smell assaulted them. Fumes burned their eyes and a layer of thick stench menaced their noses immediately afterward. Odette looked around as she wiped her eyes. Injured men and pieces of droids were strewn everywhere around an automated medical droid facility. Blaster bolt burns peppered the walls like polka-dots.

The sound of blaster fire erupted nearby. They made their way to the top of the ramp that led down further into the pit. Desperate and exhausted looking Coruscant guards shot at seemingly endless waves of droids trying to get to the ramp.

"Damn fools," Nico said under his breath.

"It's like a war zone down there," Corso said, gritting his teeth. "What is anyone topside doing about it?"

"Cover me," Nico said as he whipped his duster back and pulled his blasters out.

"Nico-" Odette tried to say.

"Just cover me," Nico snapped back.

He walked down the ramp. He blasted a few of the closest droids.

"You boys need a hand?" he announced loudly.

"What are you doing?" one of the guards said. "Get back!"

"Now listen here," Nico said, unruffled. "You see that black box up under that sewage pipe? When I yell, you direct all your fire power at it and I'll take care of the rest."

"What-"

"Do you want to keep breathing today?" Nico yelled.

They nodded at him. They all turned around as a new wave of droids appeared in the hallway.

"Odette, Corso, start with this latest wave and keep any off of me that look like they're eyeballing me," Nico said. "Now! Shoot the box."

Nico went in guns blazing down the hallway as he made a path to a unit she could barely see. The guards did as Nico asked and started shooting at a box hidden well under the large pipe.

Holding her blaster steady, she starting making work of the droids that turned to take on Nico. This was more than keeping him covered. It was saving his life. He may be worried about the unit; she was more interested in keeping her father alive.

A smile ticked up her lips as she watched the old man in action. Despite the years of drinking and his age catching up with him, he was a sight to behold when he got going. He danced through the droids in a ballet of spins and ducks as he defended himself from their barrage. Once he reached the far-off unit, he pulled out his boot blaster. He jammed its barrel into the unit, clicked a few of its buttons and then ran back behind the guards. About the same time Nico made it back behind relative safety of the durasteel barricades, the box the guards had been shooting at blew up in a red ball of flame.

"Keep going, no matter what," he said. "It's about to get worse before it gets better."

The pile of droid scrap only grew as they shot down as many of the droids as came at them. After a few seconds, Odette became aware of a high-pitched whining sound. She tried to clear her ear but it didn't help. Before it became unbearable, Nico shouted, "Everyone hit the floor!"

Odette landed on the ground and Corso landed next to her trying to shield her with an arm. A huge explosion rocked the sector. The blast was so loud Odette was sure she'd gone deaf for a few minutes, as much as her ears rang. She held her head in her hands as her body normalized.

"What in the hell was that?" Corso demanded.

Nico sat up and pulled his flask out of his jacket. "That, son, is what happens when you overload a D-88."