A S H A L A A

Chapter Five
Written by Jeff Walters
"The home belongs to Kira Swinson", the short alien purred as his eyes scanned the information flitting across the data pad's view screen, picking out the useful data - ignoring the redundant. "The record's state that he has spent the past seven years working as a technician. No fixed employment, only short contract work. You know, free lance stuff basically."
the rented speeder bounced slightly as the dwarf-sized alien struggled to climb it's way into the vehicle. Psami's were an endangered race. And as Alex Solo watched his friend, Jamsey, fight his worst enemy (gravity), he couldn't help but understand why. Though the Psami could, when required, move with lightning quickness - their child-like size often cancelled out any advantages their keen quickness and intellect gave them.
Jamsey handed Alex the datapad once he'd finally managed to finish his complicated boarding procedure. Alex glanced down at the device and began - "Anything in there that could.....", the sentence trialed off as a distant rumble drew Solo's gaze away from datapad and to the citie's skyline to the east. As he watched, a column of smoke began to poke it's head over far off buildings. "...tell us where he is...", Alex muttered unconsciuosly finishing his forgotten sentence.
Alex Solo and Jamsey shared a look and the quirky alien purred agreement to the unspoken question. The speeder roared to life as Solo gunned the engine ferociously . He didn't have to swerve to avoid mid-morning pedestrians as he swung the speeder away from the curb where it had been parked. As soon as the explosion had echoed it's way down the street moments ago, the citizens had deserted the streets calmy, yet swiftly.
Solo had little time to contemplate this oddity as he oversteered turning a corner, taking out a vegetable stand and showering the other three Psami's in the back of the speeder with ripe Lusha melons.
Jamsey glanced sideways at Solo whilst hastily feeling around for his seat restraints. "Thank you SO much, but we've eaten" came the growl from the speeder's rear as Ellar, the tallest of the Psami, wiped the sweet fruit from his face.
The speeder whizzed through the city at such a speed that buildings became featureless concrete and brick blurs. The column of smoke had already started to dissipate and now only a few thin wisps marked their destination. Over the steady whine of the twin fans a volley of blaster fire could suddenly be heard. A series of rustles and clicks told Alex and Jamsey that their friends in the back had heard the sounds too and were preparing for anything.
Alex rounded the speeder the final corner badly, it's back end sliding too far dragging the craft sideways across the street. Luckily for all passesngers, the craft managed to right itself before it slid into the looming buildings. 200 metres down the street the charred shell of another speeder lay strewn over the road outside of a Cantina. The front of the Cantina itself was a mess and blaster marks dotted the ground in a line leading to the building's entrance.
"TARGET RIGHT HIGH!" came the call from behind. Alex turned his head in time to see a hooded head duck below the concrete lip of a rooftop to the right as a barrage of blaster fire coming from the speeder's backseat lit up the roofline. The clear outline of a rifle barrel could be seen dissappearing behind the concrete lip soon after.
Solo swung the speeder as close to the buildings on the right as he could in order to deny the hooded sniper a good angle. Unfortunately the shooter was not alone.
Four seperate volleys of fire from further up the street rained down on the small craft. Solo managed to avoid three of the blasts but in doing so drove the speeder directly into the fourth's path. The left turbofan exploded in a flash of light, blinding the Psami sitting closet. The speeder swerved sharply as Alex was unable to compensate for the fan's loss. Propelled by the single right fan, the craft began spinning across the street, all control lost.
Solo had no time to scream out a warning as the craft punched through the already weakened Cantina entrance. As the speeder impacted it flipped on it's side, propelling it's occupants out of the vehicle, dumping them on the Cantina floor as large chunks of concrete flew everywhere. The now empty speeder's momentum kept it moving through the bar at high speed. The right turbofan somehow refused to quit driving the craft into the floor sending it skidding towards the Cantina's rear. The bartender lept out of the way just in time before the doomed speeder crashed through the bar. It finally came to a halt after half punching through the rear wall of the building.
Solo groaned as he lifted himself up to a sitting position. His four Psami friends looked pretty beatup, but beatup was better than dead. Alex turned slowly to look behind him to check out the state of the rest of the room. He froze.
The hand holding the blaster leveled at his head was shaking, but Alex could tell that this wasn't due to fear. Absolute hatred and loathing burned in the eyes of the man at the other end of the weapon. Tears stained the man's face as he knelt over the still body of a friend long gone.
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but before he could the fire burning in the man's eyes boiled over, flowing down his arm and to his fingers. He pulled the trigger...
.......to be continued.
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