Star Wars: Saviors of the Broken

Chapter XLI

"In the face of adversity, we must act with motive and purpose." - Zhad'vida, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Frank immediately pulled out his blaster, and to his surprise, Gerard did the same. They quickly glanced at each other, and in an instant, they both charged toward Dali and her gang. Frank was sure he could take care of the bounty hunter - after all, he'd beaten her in a fight before. He could do it again.

Dali shot first, her blaster bolt sailing right past Gerard's head. As soon as she fired, Frank ran in front of Gerard and shot two of Dali's fellow bounty hunters, and he was about to take down a third when Dali turned toward Frank and pointed her blaster at his head.

"Is that your little boyfriend, Fun Ghoul?" she said as she pointed her other blaster toward Gerard. "No wonder you were so protective of him last time we met."

"None of your business," Frank said as he aimed his blaster in Dali's direction. He fired, but he missed, his blaster bolt striking one of Dali's associates in the chest. He was about to pull the trigger again when even more bounty hunters rushed into the ship. They ran in far faster than Frank could shoot them, and even as he fired again and again, they kept on coming closer. Soon, Frank and Gerard were surrounded.

Of course, they weren't going down without a fight.

They were back to back, with Frank mowing down their enemies while Gerard carefully aimed and fired his blaster. As the bounty hunters tried to shoot them down, Frank was quick and aggressive, constantly defending Gerard and gunning down the bounty hunters at the same time. Neither of them had taken out Dali yet, but it felt like it was only a matter of time. Slowly but surely, they turned the tides of the battle, and every shot felt like another step closer to victory.

Between the two of them, they managed to kill about half of Dali's mercenaries, but it wasn't enough. There were still far too many bounty hunters rushing toward them, armed with massive blaster rifles. Frank was scared that he wouldn't be able to get them all, but he was even more scared that one of them might kill Gerard. He wanted this all to be over, but it was far too late to negotiate now. It was a fight to the death.

Dali took a step closer, and Frank seized the opportunity. He pointed his blaster at her, and he was about to squeeze the trigger, but Dali was too fast. Before Frank could do anything, she shot him in the leg, and he immediately fell onto the ground, completely defenseless.

"FRANK!" Gerard shouted as he rushed over to his boyfriend. As Frank screamed, blood gushing out of his injured leg, Gerard panicked. He couldn't lose Frank, not like this. He was the only hope for him, and now, he was on the floor of the Black Mariah, wincing in pain as the bounty hunters closed in.

Dali was within point-blank range as she went in for the kill. As she aimed her blaster directly at Frank's head, Gerard knew what he had to do. He reached backward for his sketchbook, grabbed it, and slammed it over Dali's head.

As it turned out, it was just enough of a distraction to buy Frank more time. He reached for his blaster and shot Dali in the head, and as she fell onto the ground next to Frank, the other bounty hunters began to retreat. At last, the two of them had won.

"Are you okay?" Gerard asked Frank as soon as the bounty hunters were gone.

"Of course not. It...it hurts a lot."

Gerard quickly kissed him and then said, "Stay strong for me, okay Frank? You can make it through this."

Gerard left the room and came back with some gauze, which he carefully wrapped around Frank's leg to stop the bleeding. "I'm sure the med droids will give you something better once we get back to civilization, but it will do for now," he said.