The Mark of the Crown(20)

“Don’t get too comfortable,” she said. “You’re leaving this morning.”

“The snow seems deep,” Qui-Gon observed.

“We’ll give you a swoop,” she said. She began to rub herbs into a paste.

“My wounds still trouble me,” Qui-Gon said.

“I’m making you some medicine,” she answered, unperturbed. “Almost as good as bacta.” She looked at him at last with a faint smile.

“Do you think I will change my mind, Qui-Gon? If so, you don’t know me.”

“Ah,” he said. “But I feel that I do.”

The rumble of thunder suddenly rolled through the still air. The dome rattled with the power of it.

“Another storm,” Qui-Gon said.

She grinned. “You’ll make it.”

The thunder rumbled again. Qui-Gon sat up straighter. When he looked at Elan, he saw that her smile had faded.

“That is not thunder,” Elan said.

“Tanks,” Qui-Gon replied.

When they ran from the dome, Dana was racing for them. “We’re under attack,” he said breathlessly. “It’s the royal guard! I saw the insignia.”

The rumble of tanks made the ground shake. Qui-Gon saw them approaching across a wide plain. The tanks were hampered by the deep snow, but they would make it. The hill people didn’t have much time.

“We’ve got to divert them from the camp,” Elan cried.

A shadow fell over the snow. Qui-Gon looked up. A massive royal guard transport ship banked over the camp. It landed in a snow-covered meadow near the moving tanks. Ramps slid down around the transport. More tanks rolled down.

“Proton tanks,” Qui-Gon said. “The troops are inside. They won’t risk exposure if they don’t have to.”

“The camp will be leveled,” Dana said.

Elan bit her lip, thinking. “The wind came from the northeast during the storm, right, Dana?”

“Yes, but…”

“Get everyone to the swoops,” Elan ordered crisply. “Have Nuni take all the children and elders to the safe shelter. And send Viva to gather my medicines. We… we could need them later. Quickly!”

Dana nodded and ran off. Elan turned to Qui-Gon. He admired her coolness in the face of such odds.

“And you, Qui-Gon,” she said. “I will need every swoop for battle. I can’t loan you one now. But you can escape down the back of the mountain that way.” She pointed to a narrow trail that snaked past the domes.

“I’ll take that swoop you promised me,” Qui-Gon answered.

“But I can’t…”

He activated his lightsaber and held the glowing green light front of her. “I will not leave your people unprotected,” he said. The hill people were ready to go - everyone over the age of ten and under the age of eighty sat astride swoops, Qui-Gon guessed.

Elan swung a leg over her swoop. Qui-Gon did the same.

“Here’s the plan,” she told the others. “First, we buzz the tanks. Make them angry. Keep out of cannon range. Remember the zoomball game?”

Everyone nodded. She grinned at them, meeting as many eyes as she could. “Make the tanks the goalposts. Fly as though you’re up against the best zoomball players in the galaxy. We’re going to try to drive them away from the camp. Then when they’re good and mad, we’ll head to Moonstruck Pass.”

“Moonstruck Pass?” Dana asked. “But-“Elan grinned. “Exactly.” Qui-Gon didn’t have time to ask what they meant. Elan gunned her engines and took off. Within seconds she was just a dot in the distance. The others followed.

Qui-Gon had driven speeders of various kinds and all sorts of flying vehicles. This was his first experience on a swoop. The engine controls, as well as the steering, were on the handlebars. He gunned the engine as Elan had, picked up speed, then corrected his direction slightly by turning the right handlebar. Immediately, the swoop flipped and headed for a tree.

“Lean away from the turn!” someone yelled to his left, and Qui-Gon leaned, holding on for dear life. Once he felt the swoop was under control again, he tried a more cautious correction.

This time he was able to stay with the others, or at least keep them in sight.

Soon, Qui-Gon had a feel for the machine. It was more responsive than he was used to, but it was agile. Before coming in range of the ion cannons, he practiced diving and soaring and sharp turns, hanging in midair and then turning. Then he picked up speed to join the others, who were almost in range of the tanks.

Elan turned as he rode up next to her. “About time,” she said. Her grin was friendly, as though they were out for a pleasure ride.

“Think you can handle that machine?”