"No time for that now!" Biggs calls over his shoulder, "T3, get the systems online and plot us a course for Telos!"

"Beep-dwoop-dweep!" responds the droid, its tone somewhere between irritated and alarmed as it hurriedly trundles off after Biggs.

Stro'to dives for cover up the boarding ramp, then collapses against the wall of a side corridor, panting.

"That.... is more exercise... than I have done in decades," he pants, surreptitiously eyeing off anything that looks like it might be a good Fennec-proof hiding spot for later.

"Useless at running, useless at aiming, and useless even as a meat shield," Xizran sneers, also up the boarding ramp now and taking cover from the incoming fire. "It's no wonder the Exchange fell like it did when you're the bar their executives have to clear these days to be hired."

Bane is the next to reach the boarding ramp as their pursuers arrive at the entrance to the hanger. The bounty hunter curses as a blast whizzes centimeters to the left of his shoulder to leave a scorch mark on the inner corridor wall before him.

"Out of my way, trash can," he barks to T3 as he charges after Biggs towards the cockpit.

Fennec backs up the boarding ramp, firing at a Zabrak mercenary who hastily darts back behind the hanger entrance.

"Get this thing in the air!" she calls after Biggs.

Reaching the cockpit, Biggs leaps over the back of the pilots chair to slide adroitly into position in front of the controls. The boarding ramp begins to ascend even as Layla clambers up and the engine roars to life. He looks a little surprised as Bane leaps into the co-pilot's seat beside him.

"You know how to fly?" he clarifies dubiously.

"Better than you, flyboy," Bane shoots back as he begins to flick a series of switches to bring various systems to life.

Biggs surveys Bane for long enough to ascertain that the bounty hunter knows what he is doing before raising his eyebrows as he continues to bring his own instruments online.

"We'll see..."

The boarding ramp seals as the ship lifts into the air. The mercenaries outside move into the open as they concentrate fire on the escaping freighter, their blasts being harmlessly absorbed by its now active shields. The landing struts retract as with a roar the ship soars out of the hanger and into the dusty brown tinged sky above.

Layla deactivates her lightsaber, panting as she slumps beside Stro'to in the corridor.

"This is one planet I will be very happy to never see again."

"I heartily agree," Stro'to says with feeling.

Fennec slings her rifle over her shoulder as she jogs in the direction of the cockpit, coming to a halt behind the chairs in which Biggs and Bane are seated as she peers out the viewport.

"These sleemos have a gunship, possibly more than one," she informs Biggs, "I doubt it will be long before it shows up. Does this thing have a blaster turret?"

"There's one topside," Biggs informs her as he scans the hazy buildings around them for any sign of a gunship, "Directly down the corridor behind us."

Fennec nods, sparing Bane a dark glance before turning to hurry off in the direction indicated by Biggs.

“Give them hell, Fennec,” Xizran orders, sneering at Stro’to.

Fennec gives a grim smile and a nod as she disappears up the ladder leading to the turret seat.

"No sign of any gunship yet," Biggs calls to Fennec, "Perhaps they- wait, yes, we've got company. Unmarked gunship coming in at oh-two-hundred."

As he speaks the gunship that levelled Stro'to's palace soars into view above the buildings to their right, bearing towards the freighter at full speed.

"KYD-2400 assault ship," Bane remarks as they approach, "Fancy."

"Schematic-stealing sleemos," Xizran scoffs derisively. "Fennec, make sure you blow them to bits."

Layla has by this time picked herself up and made her way to the cockpit where she peers through the viewscreen over Xizran's shoulder.

"A gunship like that isn't spaceworthy, is it? Can we race them to the atmosphere?"

"Actually the twenty-four thousands are spaceworthy," Bane informs her as he presses various controls around him, "But we'd have no chance of outracing them anyway, unless the engine on this bucket of bolts has some very special modifications?"

A questioning glance at Biggs accompanies this.

"Which she doesn't," Biggs replies tersely as he continues to fly toward the gunship, his hands dancing over the controls, then, to Xizran, "I hope your friend is a good shot."

“She is.”