Dry palms, even in a crisis, Alethia mused. That was something else the two had in common - yet another addition to the list that had been growing since she had first walked into his quarters in Seher.
She ran her fingertips gingerly over the bulkhead as Mar began to lead her along by the other hand, feeling for side corridors, air vents, displays, blood, any scrap of information about where they were or where they were heading. Her Jedi companion seemed to have some idea of where he was leading them, although the slow pace made Alethia wonder how detailed his ‘vision of sorts’ really was. Fortunately, the bulk of the rakghouls seemed to have been concentrated around the exploding thermal detonator, or at least on the other side of the thick durasteel blast door she had just barely made it through. Their journey to the engineering section was quiet, albeit much longer than it usually took to make it from one end of a GR-75 to the other.
After the first few minutes Alethia gave up on trying to listen for rakghouls, and settled into the rhythm of Mar’s footsteps. It was strangely soothing.
After a time, Alethia couldn’t be sure quite how long, the Jedi stopped. “A door,” he said by way of explanation. “Avert your eyes.” She barely had done so when the Councillor’s lightsaber erupted, casting a green light over the entire corridor.
“I’m surprised I didn’t think of that,” Alethia commented, blinking as her eyes adjusted. Mar looked at her with the silent expression that usually indicated an unverbalized question. “The light,” she clarified, gently slipping her hand out of his to reach for her blaster.
Mar grunted slightly - sheepishly? - before turning back to the door and examined it. “They attempted to claw their way in here. Perhaps there’s someone still living inside.” Taking his weapon in both hands, plunging the plasma blade into the durasteel and slowly working it through the locking mechanisms.
The metal was still glowing when the smell of charred flesh hit them. The section was eerily silent, a dizzying mix of pipes, ducts, wires, and the shadows they cast in the green light. The space was cramped and small, with only a few access panels and a single control console. The room’s lone occupant was in the corner. They stepped closer to examine the corpse, his blackened hands still gripping the uninsulated metal prybar he’d jammed into the main power supply.
“His arm,” Alethia said, gesturing to the bloody gash on his bicep. Evidently one of his former crewmates had gotten close enough to have a taste.
“He chose not to allow himself to become an instrument of evil,” Mar nodded approvingly.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think either of us will be able to get that back online. But…” she trailed off and started to rummage through the engineer’s kit.
“But?”
“How far away can you move something telekinetically?”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever tested that,” Mar answered.
“You’re about to,” Alethia said, holding up a small welding torch and wedging it in place against an exposed fuel duct, “Think you can set that off from an escape pod?”
“Doubtful,” the Councillor answered, stroking his beard as he pondered the suggestion. “Although if you can move me, I might be able to hold the torch in place from a distance. If we can keep the trigger down physically…”
“…you could hold it over the duct and drop it once we’re farther away,” Alethia finished the thought. “It’s risky, but I don’t think we’ll manage anything better. Hand me your saber and get on that hovercart.”
Alethia burst out of the engineering compartment, holding the green lightsaber in front of her for light while pulling the hovercart behind her. On it, Mar sat perfectly still in meditation, his breathing calm and measured. Behind them, the welding torch floated half a meter over the fuel line, spewing heat and sparks as a tight rubber band held its trigger down. The woman sprinted down the main corridor, twenty, thirty meters towards the central part of the corvette where the escapes were most likely undamaged. She spared a glance back at her Jedi compatriot. Mar was still, his breathing even, but sweat was beginning to bead up on his brow as they pulled farther away from the torch.
Looking back ahead of her, Alethia could just barely make out the escape pods at the end of the saber’s green glow - and three hunched figures milling about in front of it. Spast! she thought, as the creatures perked up at the light and sound of the approaching Odanites. Pushing off with her feet, Alethia launched herself backward and over the hovercart’s handle, landing just in front of Mar. She held the lightsaber low and straight out like a lance, and it burned its way into one rakghoul’s skull as the cart slammed into the monsters. Alethia swung desperately at the other two, severing limbs successfully, but with none of her typical grace. “We’re here!” she called out, keying open the escape pod.
Mar was a blur; as soon as his eyes were open he was in motion, willing his limbs to move faster than should have been faster. He was up, half pulling, half tackling Alethia to get both of them into the pod as the welding torch in the engineering cart fell, burning itself way through the ductwork and igniting the fuel. Alethia slapped the launch button on the way down, and the pod door closed behind them as the two Odanites landed in a heap on the pod’s floor. Mar instinctively spread himself over Alethia to shield her from debris as arms around his exposed neck and head. The gentle vibration of the launch was quickly overwhelmed by the shockwave of the corvette’s bursting engines as they ripped the larger vessel apart and thrashed the escape pod. The dim lights in the pod flickered and went out. They were alone, drifting in space in darkness and in silence, but they were alive.
Alethia exhaled. She hadn’t even realized that she’d been holding her breath. We made it. The ship was destroyed, the rakghouls and the target with it, and they were alive. “Next time,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper into Mar’s ear, “I would really prefer not to test the theory that you’re immortal.”
Mar snorted, but even the taciturn Jedi couldn’t keep himself from breaking into full laughter for the first time that Alethia could remember. It was a rich and beautiful sound, infectious, and for a moment the two of them were a bruised, convulsing, cacophony of laughter on the floor. As the mirth faded, Mar seemed to remember that he was on top of her, and pushed himself to his feet before offering Alethia a hand up.
“They’ll send someone out once we miss the check-in,” he said, his normal businesslike manner returning. “Hopefully someone will retrieve us within a few hours.”
“Hopefully,” Alethia smiled back at him. “But in the interim, Councillor, however shall we pass the time?”
