[i]In the alleys, along the escape route[/i]

Before the firefight broke out, Vannin had spotted a handful of crooks moving around the rear to surround Slooga's escort party. He'd only seen three at the time, but there were in fact closer to eight or nine -- the exact number depended on just how many Ortro Dob's grenade had neutralized. Vannin was on the point, with Hayca and Dob following a few meters back. Hayca was giving the Mon Cal a crash-course in CQC, and the fish, for his part, was more or less keeping up with things. Meanwhile, ahead, Vannin spent most of his time trading insults and blaster bolts with scum behind improvised cover. The Liberators had advantages in discipline and equipment, which, thanks to the tight terrain, seemed to count for more than the criminals' numbers. With Vannin drawing fire, his partners were free to pick off enemies with punishing salvos that sizzled right over the pointman's head. 

He'd asked the LT for three minutes headstart to clear a path. All told, it took them about five. The last pair of enemies saw the odds against them and, with curses and lewd gestures, tossed their weapons and scampered off. Hayca checked all the angles to confirm they were clear while Vannin caught his breath.

"Two for me," he lied.

"One," Hayca corrected. "We're clear."

Vannin thumbed his communicator. "LT, we're done up here. Time to make tracks." He thought for a minute, and vaguely remembered grabbing Byron's communicator and throwing it at someone. Shit. "Robot?"

"Nerf squad acknowledges," squawked B2. 

"I'll be a son of a bitch," Vannin said loudly, looking up. Slooga was coming in hot on their heels, running from someone. Suddenly Vannin burst out laughing. Tadia was positively chasing the hutt away from the battle. Slooga's face was comically annoyed. "Never thought I'd see a hutt so whipped," Vannin chuckled, realizing too late that he said that out loud. He waited for the two of them to catch up and give the latest on the situation, and gave a succinct report of his own: "Fish kicked some ass. We're clear to the ship."

"Hang on."

Hayca drew his attention to the landing pad where their shuttle was docked. A COMPFORCE speeder was parked nearby, and a trio of uniformed men kept watch. In the alley, the rebels were still hidden from their sight, but they'd be spotted for sure when they made a break for the shuttle. If the lookouts called in the cavalry, the whole spaceport could be locked down in minutes, and that would trap the rest of the unit on station. They might get Slooga out, and the four Liberators in the alley, but everyone else would be boned.

"How do we do this?" Dob asked.

"Kill them all," Slooga grumbled.

"Well obviously," Vannin agreed. "But not yet. Gotta check something first." He got on the comms and got Sergeant Sekula, who laid out the current situation in the square, as well as the ambush. Vannin warned her about the COMPFORCE detail. "We can take them," he said, "But once we engage we're gonna have a [i]very fraggin' small[/i] window to get everybody out. Byron's comm is dark -- my fault. Just call it when you're ready and we'll move out."

The gunners picked their targets and waited for their next order. The party was coming their way, and soon.

-------

[i]in the square[/i]

The battle was winding down fast, but still dangerous as hell. The scum's target had always been Slooga, and with him removed, the only people sticking around were the ones out for blood -- and of them, all that were left were the ones with talent. The slice team's ambush had scared off or killed everyone else. A number of troopers were hit, and some of their friendly pirates were down as well, but overall the fight was a win for the Liberators. For now. Lt. Byron's mind was racing through the end-game possibilities -- it was the imps that wanted Slooga, and they had a detachment stationed here, so they couldn't be far. Once they figured out that Slooga was on the run, they'd be coming in hot to clean up the mess. Maybe the Liberators could take them, maybe not -- but with the [i]Lionesse[/i] inbound, there wasn't enough time to find out. 

Betuu bounded to his side, shrugging off a small shot, and delivered messages from Corporals Vannin and Besk. The stakes were becoming clear. Hell of a first day on the job. Byron had the droid open a channel to everybody. "We need to be wheels-up in five minutes or less. Vannin, storm the ship in four. Besk, Sekula, load up the speeder with whatever supplies you can manage and [i]get there.[/i] Wounded first. None of ours stay behind, dead or alive." It might not make a difference, with the slicing op 86ed, but there was still a chance to get off this rock without tipping off the imps that the Rebellion was involved, and in the heat of the moment that possibility seemed more important to him than a few extra supplies. "Everyone else, move out on foot and get to the shuttle. And shake a damn leg. We are [b]out of time.[/b]"

He kept Betuu nearby as his walking commlink, and started gathering wounded and supplies for the speeder. It was less than a kilometer to the shuttle -- but five minutes was cutting it close. They'd have to be fast.