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When You Give a Man Power
Chapter 46
“All pilots comms check,” Jango ordered across our comlink with the squadron of star fighters and various ships that made up our ragtag squadron checking in.
“Crimson Hunter.” One listed off that I remembered being a male Togruta.
“Spice Is Life.” A female Twi’lek’s voice greeted them. Despite how sweet and honeyed her voice sounded she was anything but that judging by the predatory gaze she sent towards nearly everyone at the meeting. That and the vicious scars she had on her face and lekku.
Various others listed their code names, the tension in each palpable. Bane's turn finally came up, giving me a chance to help break the tension.
“Azure Outlaw,” Bane said.
“You mean Coyote Bongwater is your name.” I chimed in getting a momentary pause across the comlink before a few started chuckling, turning their comms off not wanting to be heard laughing.
Bane even looked to the side while sitting in his ship staring right at me, giving me one hell of a glare. I shrugged helplessly while I sat comfortably in my headhunter.
“This is One Nut Wonder reporting. Over.” Bane did a double-take take blinking owlishly when he heard what I referred to myself as.
Jango I could see off to the side of us just lower his helmet-clad head and shake it like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Enough of the jokes, all the comms are good, we are clear to move out. Stay near each other and if any fighters get on your tails back one another up. We need as many people alive to have the best odds of winning and surviving this.” Jango said.
The other members of our squad were smiling now with some mirth after my little stunt. Good. If these were their last moments in the universe might as well get a laugh before they faded away.
A call came through and I answered it already knowing who was on the other line without the others besides Jango hearing it.
“What the hell do you mean Coyote Bongwater?” Bane growled out sounding like he wanted to choke the life out of me.
“Well… ya see pfffft!” I couldn’t keep it together laughing at Bane who went dead quiet with me just laughing straight from my gut. “I’m sorry, Bane. I just-- just can’t ha ha ha!”
“Did you really need to say something other than your designated code name?” Jango chimed in.
“Jango if these are going to be mine or these other people’s last moments in this galaxy I’d rather go out with a laugh to give them and myself some comfort.”
Bane grumbled at that. “It’s part of our jobs. Any bounty or job we take carries the risk that any of us won't be coming back. We all knew what we signed up for when we took the job, Corvo.”
“And? Doesn’t mean nobody could use a good laugh. Plus if I get the name One Nut Wonder you get to be called Coyote Bongwater.” I countered pointing out how things must be balanced.
The Force needed balance and so did two coworkers when one gets lumped with a dumb name then the other needed to join him.
“What the hell even is a Coyote and furthermore what even is this Bongwater?” Bane asked, sounding unsure if he even wanted to know since he knew it had to be something crude and stupid.
“Alright, that’s enough Coyote Bongwater and One Nut Wonder eyes up we have a job to do,” Jango said all business which was in complete contradiction to what he just called both of us.
I failed to hide my snicker and barely withheld my laugh at Jango calling us both that. Both of us knew that under that helmet Jango had to be smiling right now. Incapable of holding it in, I let out one last laugh as our ships raced through the asteroid field.
It was packed enough that our ships stayed close enough to one another with a few struggling at certain points when the asteroids would get too close forcing us to abort one path to instead move for another angle getting in each other's way at times.
The asteroids varied from being as big as three semi trucks fused together to ones that looked as big as mountains. Checking over to the side to see the Hutts’ ships had engaged the Republic's forces. Two Lucrehulks as the intel had said were there with several smaller Republic vessels.
I opened up the comms channel for our entire squadron. “Jango, something isn’t right about this. You said there would be Jedi involved right?” I asked him, making sure it wasn’t just my imagination when he had said there would be.
“I did.”
“My sensors may not have the greatest range but my sight is a lot better than most sentients and more than enough for me to see the battle from here. What I can see in that battle is that there are very few Jedi amidst those Republic and Trade Federation forces.” I stated my observation, beginning to realize we might be walking into a trap.
Jango seemed to have come to the same realization. “Everyone keep your eyes peeled. It would seem our enemy knows we are coming.” Jango growled out.
I was expecting the man to do a tactical retreat. Instead, he seemed intent on continuing onward despite the signs pointing out that we were walking into something and we didn’t know what was waiting for us.
The silence was tense. Our ships zipped along moving across the asteroid field like pro racers moving through a hazardous obstacle course. I didn’t like it. Neither did any of the others, some of whom voiced my thoughts aloud as well.
“Shouldn’t we retreat?” One of them asked.
“No. We have a job to do. So unless you want to walk up to the Hutts and explain to them why these Lucrehulks are still operational and your only reason for not taking them down was because things were suspicious then I strongly recommend you fall back in line.” Jango told him bluntly and succinctly making the bounty hunter go dead silent along with any others who had any doubts or reservations.
Just when I was beginning to think there might not be any trap my eyes got a glimpse of something just out of the corner of my eye. An asteroid turned just enough when I flew by when we were three-fourths of the way to the Lucrehulks that I noticed light reflecting off of something.
My head immediately snapped to the Delta-6 hanging off the asteroid like a fly on a wall. The ship with its pilot sensing my sudden realization had their ship sprang to life.
“We got company! Ambush!” I yelled out across the comms moving my ship into evasive maneuvers evading a volley of blasters that hit an asteroid behind me.
The others immediately went into action just when nine other Jedi interceptors zoomed in and out of my sight in the asteroid field. It became chaos with the Jedi zipping all over the place with our squadron in constant chatter trying to stay alive while fighting back against the Jedi.
I would try to help but I was rather focused on the one I witnessed who was playing a game of cat and mouse with me not once letting me out of its sight.
We moved about the asteroids, up, down, left, right, any and all directions, me chasing them to them giving chase in turn. Any of the Jedis' attempts to shoot me down were way off the mark courtesy of my reaction speed being leagues above what it was when I first started bounty hunting on Nar Shaddaa.
Another volley of blaster cannon fire and I rolled starboard veering off to the side winding around an asteroid skimming along its cratered belly through the uneven surface like a surfer catching a big wave.
Seeing what was ahead and my opportunity had come I fired several blasts ahead of me impacting an incline throwing up rock and metal. Their sensors should read a collision until the very last second while I flew through finding the narrowest of openings with the debris pinging off of my particle shield but it held strong against the solid matter.
The Jedi starfighter had overshot banking wide to avoid the stone and metal. Knowing my time was now I snapped my control stick back, cutting the power to my port engine for half a heartbeat, spinning my ship into a snap-roll that reoriented me into a better position and angle while leaving my quarry wide open.
The Force may give the Jedi insight, but physics was still my game.
My headhunters' cannons spat red. Shots lanced across the asteroid field, a few grazing his shield before he managed to peel away. They were doing their utmost to avoid my shots. Having learned from my time with the Echani and using my technique that helped me win, I don't plan any of my attempts from here on out. Solely relying on instinct, intuition, and above all any opportunity that presents itself I just aimed and shot whenever they were in my crosshairs.
Like a switch had been flipped the Jedi was nowhere near as erratic or graceful in their movements now struggling far more to evade my shots where before they would preemptively dodge before my finger had even pulled the trigger.
One blast after another chipped away at their shields in no time until another shot clipped their wing sending the ship into a spin. They managed to regain enough control to veer out of the way of an incoming asteroid while I was in hot pursuit. Seeing my navigator I let the Jedi go with two more coming in from behind me.
They fired away no longer using controlled bursts as I evaded each shot like a sailfish in the ocean moving around a sea of sharks. My ship weaved around the field pushing it further towards the Lucrehulks with me noting in between shots from the pair of Jedi starfighters that a few of the comms for the members of our squadron were no longer lit up.
Knowing full well what that meant I let out a small sigh before my eyes narrowed. It was time to lock it in. The pair were moving around one another and the asteroids not once giving me any opportunity to turn around and fire back with both doing their best to cover any openings I could take advantage of.
Alright looks like I am going to have to play dirty.
One of them got particularly brazen diving from above like a bird of prey, twin bursts of emerald fire clawed at my shields. I yanked the yoke, nose-up, plunging my headhunter between two tumbling rocks just wide enough to scrape paint. Sparks rattled across the hull, the particle shield not capable of handling something like this.
“Alpha Leader. Coyote Bongwater. How are things looking for you two?” I asked far too calmly after managing to break through to the other side looping around a jagged asteroid, then cutting my throttle hard, letting inertia fling me in a dead drift.
My pursuers screamed past, overshooting me. Re-engaging my thrusters sliding right in behind them.
“Got my hands full, One Nut Wonder. Alpha?” Bane said, sounding annoyed.
“Currently helping Spice is Life and a few others. One Nut Wonder give me thirty seconds and I can swing around to help you. Then we go for Bongwater.”
My cannons lit up the dark. One of the Jedi starfighters flared as bright as a star. They juked left, but I was tighter, closer, nipping at their heels like a starving hound. For a moment-- just a moment-- I had him. His shields went down after another pinpoint accurate shot each time they entered my sights.
Then the second Jedi dove back in, forcing me to break off. Plasma seared past my canopy close enough to make me see green spots. I cursed and corkscrewed through a few smaller asteroid clusters, flak hammering my particle shields.
My bones sang at the long-awaited hunt that had been given to me. Breathing hard I realized I was grinning. Two Jedi. Me against them. And they weren’t winning. Not yet. Not when backup was coming.
“Works for me. Just make it fast cause they are getting annoying.” I said pulling my ship's control stick to the side veering sharply to the right avoiding a crossfire from both ships that would have taken my shields down, then scrapped me and my ship.
It looked like the first Jedi had gotten their shields back up enough to come back. The asteroids spun, cold and endless, and I dove back in with the two Jedi now hunting me once more.
Seeing one Jedi giving chase to a much older but still effective starfighter, I briefly opened fire pinging the ship's shields before they fell after a few shots and managed to tag its thruster. It sparked and sputtered, looking unstable. I couldn’t do anything more with me zooming past the two ships hoping my squad mate would survive with the two Jedi on my tail.
Our battle was like an exotic dance with me taking the lead and the two Jedi, like twin dancers twirling around one another, and the environment never too far behind.
I could use some of the other weapons I had stored in my ship but the idea was discarded. Using them would mean causing a potential chain reaction in the asteroid field sending them pinballing all over the place. For rather obvious reasons that would be a bad idea since I was still in the asteroid field alongside my squadron.
That and the fact that the Jedi were struggling to even hit me courtesy of my honed skills and reflexes.
“Corvo I am coming in now, take a sharp left in the next three seconds.” Jango's voice said to me over the commlink.
I move erratically the Jedi hellbound on seeing me dead. “One.”
The starfighters by this point had grown impatient both now far more aggressive in their attempts to turn me into space dust. “Two.”
Both fired with wild abandon. My ship moved across the field like an agile gazelle staying ahead of the lions. “Now!” Jango said and I did as commanded taking a sharp turn that almost had me lose a wing to an asteroid.
The wing scraped the tip against the giant space rock. The sound of metal against rock made my teeth grind and rattle.
Both Jedi were forced to slow down unless they wanted to be a space equivalent to bugs on a car's windshield. Having slowed down just enough so they had the angle to not destroy their ships and were about to go back to full speed only to do some evasive maneuvers diving and rising when blaster cannon fire rained down on them, both ships desperately moving around the cramped corridor between the two asteroids.
The ships evaded most of the shots with them returning fire with Jango's ship moving past me. I once more cut the power to one thruster spinning me around on the spot soon following behind Jango’s ship obscuring mine from sight.
I had no plan. Simply take advantage and improvise. And improvise I shall. My ship moved up and over Jango's ship, angling mine down taking a shot at one of the two fighters destroying it when its shield dropped from enough sustained fire from Jango.
Flame blossomed along the arrowhead shaped ship before it was consumed by it then slammed into the side of one of the asteroids sliding along it sending up sparks and flames left in its wake before it detonated.
The other ship zipped past both of us with me managing to land a few shots on it but its shield absorbed the brunt of it.
“Get going and don’t slow down. The others will be right alongside you.” Jango ordered me. My hesitation showed when my ship lurched ahead of him but it was far slower. I didn’t want to abandon him after he came to help me. “Don’t worry they won’t be following us for long with the parting gift I am about to give them.”
My head tilted at the vague notion of what Jango intended but I trusted him with how confident he sounded. My ship lurched ahead going full speed weaving across and skimming some asteroids to catch up with the others who had regathered with the Jedi themselves regrouping.
“How many of us are left?” I asked what was left of the squadron.
“We lost a third of them. That puts us at fourteen.” One of our random squad members who was left said. “One of them is still in the thick of the field back there so we just wait for them to…”
Whatever they were about to say was cut off when all sound suddenly stopped. For a few seconds, no sound could be heard across the expanse before an ear-piercing noise echoed across space followed by a razor-thin blue disc behind us. My eyes widened realizing what Jango had done.
“Nope. Not waiting. Everyone move out now!” I yelled out in panic seeing the numerous asteroids across the field begin to pinball off of one another. A glimpse showed a few Jedi were heading our way only to go into evasive maneuvers so they didn’t get crushed.
“What was that?!” One pilot sounded panicked.
I grimaced thinking Jango had to have been crazy to do that. “Seismic charge. We can’t stay in the asteroid field any longer. Everyone get out now. If you can't, that's on you.” Bane said to the group his ship shooting past a lot of us in an impressive display of skill as a pilot.
His headhunter dived through a sliver of space between two colliding boulders that a second too late would have crushed his ship. Not one to be outdone nor am I about to die from a giant rock in space my ship groaned being put through her paces.
Sparks danced off my canopy as pebbles scraped along the particle shield. The shield had now proved itself to be a good investment. My heart sang in my chest with the increase in speed as my ship's throttle went faster and faster.
My squadmates didn’t do nearly as well as I and Bane with a few dying screaming over their comms, my smile became brittle. I hardened my heart knowing that we had a job to finish.
That didn’t mean I liked what Jango just did and how many he just endangered. A glance behind me showed two Delta-6s coming for me. They wove through the chaos not even flinching at the intimidating sight of the massive asteroids slamming together as if mountains had come to life and slaughtering one another with ants like us caught in the crossfire.
While I flew with skill and my own natural or unnatural gifts the Jedi moved as if guided by something beyond simple reflex, anticipating the impacts before they even happened.
Some of the Jedi further back didn’t fare as well as the two coming up on me. They flew through the asteroid field but it was more to not die than to give chase.
The two coming right for me twisted their arrowhead ships through the ever maze with unnatural precision.
I could only shake my head at them. “Figures.” The one time I get a job with Jango and Bane it goes tits up. Hear the two of them talk about their jobs while I was away they made it sound like they had it easy compared to me.
I punched the throttle, the ship humming with power, shaking up into my bones making me feel like life was returning to me once more. I missed this. All that time cooped up in House Atrix’s manor had me yearning for something like this.
I zigzagged between ricocheting asteroids with several other squadmates doing their best to stay alive. The Jedi finally opened fire on me and the others.
My shields held when a few emerald shots impacted my ship. But no matter how sharp my turns, no matter how reckless the dive was, the Jedi matched me. Always there and closing in.
I glanced off to the side seeing one of our own nearly get his ship pincered by two asteroids the size of semi trucks. The Zabrak had a look of relief on his face, a tired smile that turned into a look of horror when a pair of emerald cannon fire ripped through their ship and destroyed them.
My eyes narrowed, hands clenched the flight stick with a death grip. The two quickly gained on me despite my ship's upgrades making it far superior to a standard Z-95 Headhunter. Yet it made no difference to the incoming Jedi like two birds of prey who spotted a juicy meal.
My smile turned bloodthirsty at the mere idea of that. “Like hell I went through that job on Eshan to just get killed by two bumblefuck no name Jedi in some backwater system like this.”
The ships zipped around trying to get a lock on me firing and corralling me as if sensing my feelings on both of them. Whatever vague idea of a plan was tossed away when I had to constantly remind myself that I couldn’t plan anything when it came to Jedi.
So I didn’t. Any notion of a strategy was tossed away like a piece of trash. Instead, I flew by sheer instinct and impulse, rolling where my hands wanted, diving where both my joy and panic in my gut screamed, juking into gaps that any sane pilot would never even glance at.
My headhunter became a blur of madness in motion, weaving through tumbling stone with no rhythm, no predictability, no plan at all beyond simply getting out of the asteroid field.
Yet it proved effective. For the first time, the Jedi faltered. One Aethersprite clipped an outcropping when they tried to chase me through a narrow gap that they had to abort, sparks coming off of its right edge.
The other was slowed by the madness they had just witnessed. It didn’t stop the two of them who pushed onwards despite no longer being capable of sensing what I was going to do or predicting me enough to get a shot.
A laugh bubbled its way out of my throat. “That’s it, Jedi… let’s see how good you are when there’s nothing to read.”
Joy and terror in equal measure threading a nearly impossible pass between three crashing asteroids with numerous more moving about the field turned into a pinball labyrinth.
One of them had enough waiting instead opting to open fire at me their green cannon blasts hitting everything but me with the ship throwing caution to the wind pushing their ship to go faster.
Paths I had taken to evade them now were no longer taken by just me but this Jedi was keeping pace finding alternate routes just as dangerous as my own to keep up with me. Their ship twisted, angled, and weaved through treacherous openings and paths.
I lost them for a moment with the other Jedi staying behind but on my tail regardless. It dawned on me what they were doing. One was getting closer to put pressure on me while the other acted as support to take any shots they could to not let me get away.
“So where did the more brazen of the two go?” I asked aloud. What I hadn’t anticipated was getting an immediate answer.
Several emerald lances impact my ship from above the Aethersprite tipped over the edge of an asteroid that was closing in with another. A pair of walls that would crush me if I wasn’t fast enough to get by with the Jedi opening fire on me with his buddy in the back doing the same.
“I got your back Corvo.” Jango's voice crackled to life.
“You have impeccable timing Jango. Let’s give them something to remember us by.” I couldn’t hide the enthusiasm at Jango popping up just in time.
“With pleasure.” Jango's ship opened fire on the Jedi from behind. Despite his ship's size it moved far faster than most would think.
The Jedi used evasive maneuvers rolling out of some of Jango's shots but it wasn’t enough. It was too late and Jango was too good a shot to dodge like that. He managed to take down their shields before the ship blew up with Jango’s Slave I slamming into the flaming wreckage of what was left of the Jedi ship.
It broke apart like cigarette ash against a windshield on a highway. “I got this one Jango. Just enjoy the show.”
Adjusting my throttle and ship's thrust I kept my momentum but rolled into a front spin in time for my ship to level out flying backwards towards our exit point with my sights staring down at the Jedi who had not stopped shooting at me from behind. Time slowed down around me my bullet time kicking in just to make sure he doesn’t get away.
He was wide eyed and slackjawed before his eyes filled with fear narrowed. My smile became gentle seeing he was just a boy. I expected an older Jedi at least middle aged. Instead, he was barely a teenager from the looks of him. “Sorry kid.” That was all I could think to say and I think he read my lips.
His expression changed into a serene but resolute mask accepting he may die. I pulled my trigger sending crimson laser fire into his ship while he fired back at me. The vast majority of my shots were absorbed by his shield and any attempt he tried to make to evade me was made futile when I read his body and saw every faint twitch of his tendons and muscles.
It took an absurd amount of multitasking to both shoot and hit him with any kind of accuracy while also keeping my ship from crashing into the narrowing walls of the two asteroids while flying backwards.
The Jedi kid hadn’t stopped shooting at me more shots landing now than he had managed to the entirety of his time hunting me before this. The only issue the kid had was that my shield was far better courtesy of my tinkering with my ship compared to his.
His shield fell under the crimson rain before the last look in his eyes was one of acceptance before fire engulfed his ship breaking it apart. What was left of it smacked into a small asteroid knocking it off course and into the side of the closing walls.
“Good work Corvo.” Jango half complimented me and half grunted sounding satisfied while I remained silent for a beat.
If it wasn’t for the memories from my other lives and the horrors they had both witnessed and did themselves then killing that kid would hit far harder. Not that it didn’t affect me. But I ignored it since I was on the job. Once done I could sort through my emotions and let it out in private.
But not now.
Our ships got some distance screaming through the black void of space before Jango had done a head count seeing how many of us were left.
“The mission goes on.” He said breaking the silence.
“You can’t be serious. We lost half our number after the ambush and your stunt Fett!” Spice is life pointed out angrily.
Her ship looked in better shape than some of the others which took some hits getting through the asteroid field and the Jedi ambushing us.
“We are going to lose more than that if we don’t get moving. You have two options. Stick with the group and have a better chance of surviving with numbers at your back. The other option is to go back to the fleet either through the asteroid field or fly through the enemy starfighters and ships engaging our fleet.” Jango was blunt and to the point yet he wasn’t wrong.
Spice of Life herself along with any of those having last second thoughts fell silent at what Jango just said. Whatever thoughts they had of simply retreating were now crushed.
Jango’s ship left the rest of us behind before I and Bane followed him. “Then let’s get this over with. And Jango,” I said to him, already moving ahead of the others, “Why the hell did you use a seismic charge in an asteroid field when the rest of the squad hadn’t cleared it yet?”
“Careful Corvo. Is that a hint of insubordination I am hearing?” Jango responded icily, sounding testy.
“You hear what you want to hear then. If I were being insubordinate I would have left this system with my hyperdrive without even once thinking about coming back to help you. Yet here I am. Now talk.”
A long silence filled the comms after that, our ships closed in on the Lucrehulks with the others soon making their decision. All of them now followed Jango into the maw of the beast.
The fighter complement that these ships would normally have as protection was heavily diminished with the bulk of them engaging the Hutt forces behind us. The staccato of turbo lasers grew louder with each mounted weapon on the Lucrehulks adding to the chaos of the battle.
“We needed to get rid of the Jedi and if we couldn’t kill them, slow them down so we could get the job done. So I used a seismic charge. Keep in mind Corvo I saved you doing that and flying in when you needed back up.” Each word was like pulling teeth for Jango. The man didn’t like that he had to explain himself to me.
I let out a long sigh at that. “While I understand your reasoning Jango, you also got several members of the squad killed over it.”
Bane huffed at that, sounding amused. “Corvo, they were bounty hunters like the rest of us or smugglers. They knew what they signed up for when they took the job. Jango wasn’t wrong when he told them that they had better odds sticking with us. If they tried flying through that it would be a guaranteed death. Knock it off with the bleeding heart poodoo.”
“It’s not about my emotions. It’s the fact that he almost got me and you killed while getting other people killed in the process who were under his command. And last I checked Jango himself said from the beginning that the more people we lose along the way the higher the chance this job will fail. Or have you forgotten that part?”
Bane didn’t have anything to say to that. Whether it was me bringing up how he could have died in that but I doubt that’s what had Bane going silent. If anything the guy was familiar enough with death that he probably figured he would kick the bucket eventually anyway so why worry about it.
I think what had him going silent was the notion that with the people we lost the mission might fail.
“I did say that. But the mission hasn’t reached the point that we will fail yet with the people we have left. Just push on to the control cores and we can get out of here.”
Jango all but commanded and my old soldier instincts kicked in falling in line even if it rankled me. I liked Jango. But doing that and nearly getting us all killed to get the Jedi off of our backs it just didn’t make sense.
There had to be more to it than just that because there had to have been other weapons on his ship that could have done the job even if they may not have been as effective as the seismic charge. It came off as sloppy. Jango was a professional and was hailed as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.
To put himself at risk like that just didn’t make sense. The Jedi were dangerous but nothing that we couldn’t handle by working together when we also had a number advantage.
Jango and I proved that when he came to save me. Whatever thoughts I had on why he did it came to an end as I went into professional mode. “Lucrehulks coming up. They know we are coming. The Jedi must have tipped them off.”
“Or they were expecting us more like it.” Bane pointed out what was on everyone’s mind. The Jedi were there waiting for us.
It was one thing to predict what your enemy would do. It was another thing entirely to have people waiting on the path that they otherwise wouldn’t have known we would travel that far to get to the Lucrehulks. I don’t know what was worse.
The idea we had spies and traitors which considering the people employed by the Hutts made sense. For most of these people, it’s about the money, and in Jango and Bane's case their reputation.
Or the notion they had someone in charge who was smart enough to know where to place those Jedi close enough to their ships and know we would pass through that section of the asteroid field instead of leaving it early.
The massive ships loomed ahead. They looked intimidating with how big they were along with all the turbo laser emplacements. Yet I knew despite all of those turbo lasers they couldn’t use all of them effectively due to the shape of the ships.
“Everyone get ready, they are sending in their fighters,” Jango ordered me and Bane along with everyone else. Each of our ships I had outfitted with ion cannons just to handle their droid fighters that were heavily modified by yours truly.
With the waves of droid starfighters alongside the Republic Judicial Forces flying towards us I hardened my resolve to see this through like every other job.
