Crash Course (Re-Post)

What an intense post Lilith!

I feel so awful for Shael, Crash, and Roble. What a horrific thing to go through when all you can do is sit there and wait. Thankfully Sloan kept his head and was able to give them his position and information about who grabbed him.

Now go save him!

 

Thanks for your comments folks. This should be the second to last post.

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The plan we came up with was simple. It had to be, we had little time. They wanted us to make the strike within the next three hours. And they demanded that Shael go with the raiding party. He wasn?t happy, kept insisting that we could put his jacket on someone else and they?d never know the difference. I doubted that. They?d managed to figure out somehow which of the three they had been chasing was really Sloan, so something told me they?d know if Shael wasn?t really with the raiders.

The raiding group was large. It included the triplets, Trapper, Bulldog, War, Bait, Plague, Reeabok, Lyman, Frank and his cousin Al, Chaser, Nox and a dozen others, more than a quarter of our total members. And they were all armed to the teeth. The rescue party, on the other hand, was quite small, and I had to fight tooth and nail to keep it that way. Too many people wanted to take some shots at the low-down, honorless pigeons that had Sloan. Ishtari argued against overwhelming numbers by saying something about being able to go unnoticed, but very few of the men were buying that. Death finally had to step in and put his foot down.

Mason, Ishtari, Nash and myself would try to get Sloan back while the raiding party went blasting off to do absolutely nothing more than take a nice ride. Roble and Shael both were unhappy at my inclusion, but they couldn?t reasonably counter any of my arguments. I knew more about security systems and how to get past them than any other Horseman alive, and the rescue party was probably going to need me desperately.

Sometime, in all the confusion and hurrying back and forth, Ishtari found a chance to pull me and Shael aside. Three of the faces she?d sketched with the help of the others matched up with Shael?s memory of the small party that had hit him and Trapper. He rubbed absently at the healed-and-gone blaster burn he?d gotten from them while he looked at the pictures.

?That?s them, but I couldn?t tell you what it means.?

Ishtari shot me a sharp, significant glance, but I held my tongue and shook my head at her. I?d promised not to tell and saying anything now would call for more explaining than any of us had time for.

When it was time to go, Shael held me in a crushing hug and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. ?If you don?t come back, I don?t know what I?ll do,? he whispered raggedly.

?You?ll go on and help Death pull the gang through this,? I told him, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes. ?Nash, Ishtari, and Mason won?t let anything happen to me and I won?t let anything happen to Sloan. Go, and don?t worry about us. If this is some sort of ambush you?ll have enough to worry about keeping your own neck safe.?

He kissed me swiftly, almost desperately. Behind him, Bulldog called out that they were ready and waiting. Shael opened his mouth, like he was going to say something more, ask me something, but Bulldog called again and I could see him change his mind. ?I?ll see you when I see you, Chenowyth.?

?See ya when I see ya,? I answered back, and then he strode away without looking back. The swoop engines started with a deafening roar and the whole grey and scarlet mob eased into the tunnel and blasted away into the clear morning air. I stared after them for a long while, not because I feared for him, Shael might not have had the easier part but he certainly had the safer part of that whole crazy idea, but because I hurt for him. He was worried for his brother and he was worried for me. I could see it twisting him up in every jerk of his head and every snapped order, and I hated it.

?He?ll be fine, Crash.? Ishtari?s sympathetic hand rested lightly on my shoulder and gave me a heartening squeeze. ?And we?ll take care of you.?

?I know that, and he knows that, but knowing and feeling just aren?t the same,? I murmured to her.

?That?s life,? she said philosophically, glancing

 

Hello? Anybody home?

 

I'm still here Lilith!

There is so many different things about your post that I don't know where to start! From the Horsemen going out as ordered and the small rescue party leaving at the same time, to Crash finding out that Jayek was behind it all and seeing Qui-Gon shedding his Mason personna like a snake shedding his skin.

Then there's the flash grenade...

 

Okay, let's just get this over with then. Here's the last of it.


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The concussion from being so close to the thing when it went off must had caused me to black out, because when I came to there were no sounds of fighting, but calm voices talked softly in the dark. I recognized one of them as Sloan?s. My head rested on a furry shoulder and a familiar earthy smell filled my nostrils.

?Nash?? I asked uncertainly, searching the black for the glinting of light from her reflective eyes. I couldn?t see them. Had night fallen while I was out of it so that there was no light from the windows?

?Hush, Crash, you?re safe.? Worry and anxiety were there in her rumbling voice, but comfort and reassurance as well.

That was a silly thing for her to say. Of course I was safe. If Jayek had won the fight I wouldn?t have woken up, I accepted that as a fact carved in durasteel. And if Qui-Gon Jinn had won the fight how could I be anything but safe? ?How?s Qui-uh, Mason??

There was an amused undertone to the feline?s voice when she answered. ?A little the worse for wear, but if I?m any judge he?ll live. Jayek?s had the beating of his life, though, and about time, too.?

A low chuckle brought the sound of Ishtari?s voice to my ears. ?Yeah, he got what?s coming to him, and he?s gonna get more. I got here just in time to watch Mason use Shael?s stutter-step on him.? The sound of glass crunching underfoot carried her away on some errand, and I frowned in confusion. How was the ex-Jedi moving around so easily in the dark?

I started to struggle upright, but Nashraak?s steady hand on my shoulder held me down easily. ?What?s the matter??

?Just lay still. Shael and the rest will be here shortly.?

?Oh??

?Ishtari and I called them in as soon as we finished off the goons downstairs and freed Sloan.?

?I thought I heard his voice.? I blinked a few times, but all I saw was a vague afterimage of that grenade against the darkness. Was that why I couldn?t see even a hint of running lights from passing aircars in the windows? Were they blurring together with the afterimage? ?Nash, did you and Ishtari cut the power to the building??

The Trianii answered in a near whisper, ?No, Crash.?

?Then why are the lights off?? Panic was beating at the doors of my brain, but I couldn?t figure out why. I knew something was very wrong, but I had no idea what it might be, or maybe my mind refused to acknowledge what it might be.

?The lights aren?t off, Crash. At least, not for the rest of us.?

I shook my head violently in denial as the implications of that slowly sank in. ?No,? I stated, my voice trembling slightly. The world was dark, of course the lights were out, weren?t they? ?No!?

They had to be. They had to be.

But not for anybody but me.

I screamed. I couldn?t help it. I screamed and screamed and not Sloan?s worried shouts, or Ishtari?s sharp slap, or the strange voice in the background calling for a medic could make me stop. I couldn?t see. The world was gone, not just taken away but ripped, drive and exhaust, from my life. I couldn?t read a thing about what was going on around me. Not the worry in Sloan?s dark eyes, so like his brother?s, or the little furrow that appeared on Ishtari?s forehead when she couldn?t talk or fight her way out of something, not the angle of Nash?s ears or the twitch of her tail would ever reveal anything to me again.

And so I screamed as I had never screamed before in my life, the terror mounting higher and higher and threatening to choke me until a large, gentle hand rested briefly on my shoulder and even the sound went away as unconsciousness reclaimed me.
*******

//Better to be dead.// That was my first thought when the sound came back, and I wished that it hadn?t. //I?d rather be dead than blind.// My eyes had been covered with some sort of damp bandage, probably soaked in a large amount of our precious bacta supply. [i

 

Wonderful Lilith!!

That post always gets me choked up from begining to end! I love this story and and sorry to see it end again.

I certianly hope that you have more Crash or at least Horsemen stories biting at you! If you do I'll be there reading!

 

There is a sort of cross over already. It's a snapshot for Lilith. It's buried somewhere on the snapshot thread or it's on my website whichever you want to wade through.

 

I dunno. That's a good question though. Thanks for the idea, Leona. I'll see if anything comes of it.

 

Lil, this story is awesome! I loved it, great job--I'm glad that you re-posted, as I didn't get to see it the first time 'round.

 

Thank you, CeNedra. Feedback like that is always welcome. I'm in the process of submitting it to the Archive. Hopefully I'll have some cover art for it soon.

 

Lilith, I think you finished this while I was on vacation....

Well written, I loved it even more the second time around.

Thanks for all your good writing!