When at last she stood at the edge of the curving ramp, Obi-Wan made a bold move. He copied her action, leaping up to grab onto the conduit pipes overhead, then as the whip snaked and curled around him, drove into her with both feet.
She let out a surprised sound as she flew back, high above the ramp. She landed with a solid thud, then continued to skid down the ramp. She tried to stop her descent but the smooth stone was slippery. Her leg twisted underneath her and her head hit the stone wall with another sickening thud.
She lay still.
“Hurry, Padawan.” Qui-Gon strode to the windows. Together with Obi-Wan he cut through the durasteel. It peeled back, leaving an opening big enough for them to get through.
Qui-Gon threw open the cubbyhole doors. Quickly, Obi-Wan helped Didi and Astri to the window ledge.
“You’ll have to carry Astri,” Qui-Gon told him. “I’ll take Didi.”
Without pausing to reply, Obi-Wan swept up the slender Astri in his arms. Qui-Gon picked up plump Didi with the same ease. Then they leaped into the air and landed softly on the ground below.
Qui-Gon jumped into the pilot seat of their cruiser. He fired up the engine. Red warning lights flashed, and there was no answering surge of power.
“She tampered with it,” he said tersely. “Let’s try ours,” Didi suggested, already running toward his own cruiser.
They followed, but Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were not surprised when Didi’s cruiser would not operate.
“She has to have transport nearby. If we - ” Qui-Gon began, but his words were drowned out by a piercing, animallike cry.
For a moment, the light was blocked out as the bounty hunter threw herself out the window above. Her lips were curled back in a snarl.
She landed on one leg, whip flashing, and went straight for Obi-Wan.
CHAPTER 16
Qui-Gon sprang forward to place himself between Obi-Wan and the bounty hunter as Didi and Astri leaped back to get out of his way. Obi-Wan used the opportunity to quickly scan the mountainside. It was crucial that they locate some form of transport. They had to get Didi and Astri away, even if he and Qui-Gon had to hold off the bounty hunter long enough for Didi and Astri to take off.
At first he couldn’t distinguish anything. The snow was thick and blindingly white, dotted with boulders and crags. The sun bounced off the snow, hurting his eyes.
He had only seconds. Obi-Wan drew the Force around him, connecting him to everything he saw, from the craggy peaks and rocks to the fresh, dense snow.
He only saw a slight irregularity in the surface of the snow hundreds of meters below him.
Then he snapped his gaze back. It was a small cruiser. It was white, and it nestled in the snow, but he made out its outlines.
“Down there,” Obi-Wan told Didi and Astri crisply as Qui-Gon’s lightsaber tangled with the bounty hunter’s whip. “Below that crag.”
“I see it,” Astri said.
“Go,” Obi-Wan urged, already spinning to cover Qui-Gon’s flank. “Don’t wait for us!”
Didi and Astri stepped off the landing platform onto the snow. They sank into the snow up to their knees. They pushed through, making their way slowly across the side of the mountain. Drifts alternated with patches of ice, but they pushed on.
The bounty hunter redoubled her efforts, suddenly launching an offensive that sent Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan back against the edge of the landing platform. She had grabbed Astri’s blaster and let loose a stream of fire from one hand while the other expertly plied her whip.
Their lightsabers were a blur as they fought off the frenzied attack. She pushed her advantage, and they stepped off the landing platform into the snow.
Now their footing was uneven. Obi-Wan expected an attack, but the bounty hunter changed her tactics. Instead of pressing on, she turned her back and raced to the other end of the landing platform.
She poised on the edge and pressed a device in her utility belt. A thin material skin shot out from her shoulders and thighs, creating a cradle around her. She leaped into the air and came down on the snow on her back. Then she dug her heels into the snow and Obi-Wan could see that there were now spikes protruding from her boot soles.
“She is prepared, as usual,” Qui-Gon said.
She pushed herself off and flew down the mountain in the improvised sled, gaining speed as she went.
“She’s going to come at Didi and Astri from below,” Obi-Wan said. “She’ll be between them and the transport.”
“Exactly. We must reach them first.”
Didi and Astri had made some progress. Though the footing was treacherous, desperation had fueled their speed. They had not seen the bounty hunter yet.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon hurried down the steep incline in
their direction, carefully negotiating the ice and drifts. Obi-Wan glanced down the mountain at the bounty hunter. He could not imagine how she would manage to stop her descent. But as she slid, she unfurled her whip.