RotF Chapter 11

It is incredibly loud. Coruscant is never quiet, but the biggest race in the galaxy is on another level. Spectators are everywhere, lining every balcony, and filling floating stands that almost black out the sky. Speeders roar and people cheer.

Silvi wears a smile, as well as one of Blu’s jumpsuits, which are perfect for Blu’s wiry frame, but incapable of containing Silvi’s generous bust. She has to wear the suit half-zipped. This is only one of many things she’s been doing that aren’t proper for a Sith, but she’s enjoying it. Her speeder waits at the start line, engines humming as she watches the other racers assemble above her, below her, and on either side.

Underneath her feet is the compartment where Jayo, Yeffy, and Blu are packed in, waiting to be dropped.

It would be easy to think that Blu doesn’t listen to a word that Silvi says, but she does. This morning, she recalled what Silvi told her about her dreams. She said that last night she dreamed that their plan would be threatened by a small, green creature no taller than her waist.

It’s clear that Blu’s powers of clairvoyance are going to need some refining. There will be plenty of time for that later, and other things. For now, she smiles. She hasn’t enjoyed herself that much since that adorable Jedi stopped her from killing Blu.

( )

Last night, Blu fully intended to be up close and personal with a Twi’lek. Crammed in a storage space with two of them is not what she had in mind.

The engines roar and sudden g-forces pressure all three of them. Yeffy and Jayo cry out in alarm, but Blu can barely breathe. She feels the speeder banking and diving as Silvi pilots it. There is **** but to trust the white Togruta’s strange magic to make her into a competent racer. Blu is keeping track of time. The compartment will open in about thirty seconds.

It opens right then.

She, Yeffy, and Jayo are in free fall with all the confetti for the race, obscured from view. The Jedi temple is exactly where Blu expected it. Silvi’s flying has been flawless. Apart from the timing.

Yeffy and Jayo scream, and there’s no escape: they are strapped to Blu. It’s all up to her. She aims her grapple gun and fires, but if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s shooting. They swing through the buffeting winds and confetti to the tower, landing on a stone ledge. Jayo and Yeffy unstrap as Blu throws the grapple gun aside, looking worriedly at the race.

“That was early, right?” Jayo is saying.

“Way early,” Yeffy confirms, speaking up over the howling wind and the roar of the race. The blue Twi’lek looks admiringly toward the racers zooming past. “She’s fast. She’s really good.”

“Hey. Focus,” Blu says. The look of hero worship on Yeffy’s face annoys her. She takes the laser sword off her belt and activates it. The red beam snaps out with a buzz, and Blu immediately strikes the window. Being seen standing on this ledge is possibly the most dangerous part of the whole plan. They can’t waste any time getting inside.

Breaking the window will set off an alarm, so they’ll have to be quick. She drops in, and Yeffy follows. The blue Twi’lek is considerably more stealthy and graceful than her posh big sister, but both of them are at least competent. There was a time when Jayo wasn’t the boss. She still has some skills.

The temple is big and empty-feeling, spartan in design. The halls are wide, the rooms are big, and the security measures are minimal because the Jedi are all counting on their precious magic to protect them. Well, if things are the way that Silvi says, then every Jedi in this place just felt a big witch go sailing past as Silvi buzzed them in the speeder with the race.

Hopefully, they’ll be more interested in that than in one little window alarm.

They hurry down the corridor and around the corner. The sisters wear skintight, black suits that won’t get caught on anything. Blu had refused to wear one on principle. She puts the laser sword back on her belt and draws her antique blaster, pulling the slide to chamber a bullet. Yeffy bends to use a computer on the wall while Jayo assembles a modestly heavy blaster.

“The emergency ladders will give us away. Let’s risk the elevator,” Yeffy says, powering the computer back down.

“Big gamble,” Blu says, raising her blaster to cover the corridor.

“If one of them tries to get on, we’ll just blast them,” Jayo says, unconcerned. She locks the stock of her blaster in place and puts the strap over her head, lifting it professionally. Blu has to wonder how many people Jayo shot on her way to the top.

“Hey,” Blu says, nudging the yellow Twi’lek with her hip. “You almost look like you know what you’re doing.”

“You look like you crawled out of a wastebin,” Jayo snaps back, reaching out to pluck at her jumpsuit. “What label is this? I’ve never seen it in a store.”

“Shut up,” Blu mutters. “Someone’s coming.”

“I have the layout. It’s different from the plans we looked at, but I have it now. Let’s go,” Yeffy says, ducking around the corner. Blu and Jayo follow. “Emergency ladders have alarms, but the air shafts don’t, and they’ll let us move vertically between the levels. You just have to get us in,” she adds to Blu.

“Great. More laser sword,” Blu mutters.

“Maybe they’ll mistake you for one of them,” Jayo says, keeping her blaster up.

Blu carefully slices them an entrance where Yeffy indicates, and they climb into a cramped, metal passage. It’s too small for walking; they have to crawl.

“Follow me,” Yeffy says confidently, and Blu has to admit, the little Twi’lek is good at this. Before Blu can duck and enter, Jayo shoves past her.

“I won’t charge you for the view,” she says, going after her sister.

Blu watches Jayo’s round bottom for a moment, then snorts and crawls in, pulling the piece of the wall that she sliced into place behind her. There’s no backing out now.