Twenty minutes later, a rather large speeder landed next to the girl, from which a dark-haired man in a brown cloak emerged. In his right hand, he held a blaster, the muzzle of which, however, was pointed at the ground. Looking at the girl, he waved to her.
Ani, who had been watching the approaching car with anxiety and hope, did not lower her blaster and was in no hurry to respond to the welcoming wave. Nemo, who had met her in the hangar, looked completely different. More precisely, she didn't know what he looked like at all... Technician's clothes, a head covering hiding his hair, and a black visor... But he definitely didn't have a beard.
The crowd grumbled. Stirred, rising from their seats. The prey was almost in their hands, and now some guy from the upper levels shows up and wants to take everything for himself? Not likely...
"Hey, we're first in line here!" one of the Aqualish barked.
The arrival didn't engage in polemics: raising his blaster, he shot the speaker in the left hand.
"This is my prey," he said, putting authority into his voice. He didn't resort to the Force.
The blaster aimed at the crowd, Ani's blaster twitched after his words towards the stranger.
"Another one... No, I will never be anyone's prey!" – a thought flashed feverishly, making her clench her fingers on the blaster tighter.
Already at the car lot, Nemo realized that there would be some problems with the rental and, considering the money, began to look for a car. In general, he wouldn't have minded a swoop. They were somehow more pleasant to him. But he needed transport capable of carrying several people with bulky luggage. Such a one was soon found, and it remained to agree on the price.
When both Nemo and the Twi'lek seller had thoroughly exhausted their supply of profanity, learning several new expressions from each other, and were ready to shake hands, a call came to the comlink.
The doctor who had treated Jethro's wound called, and it seemed she had run into trouble.
"I'll be there soon," Nemo looked at the Twi'lek, gave up the idea of hitting him through the Force, but there was no time to argue. "Hold on, I'm fast."
He had to spend a considerable amount to get such a necessary speeder with a working engine, and he had to spend extra on refueling. But in the long run, this little car was supposed to become an excellent "mount for a tauntaun."
He arrived at the location exactly twenty-one minutes later, finding a picture-perfect scene: a group of people from the lower levels trying to claim ownership of the car and, judging by the looks of it, the doctor's freedom and health. Smoothly landing his speeder, the counter silenced the engine and, putting the keys in his pocket, got out of his transport, walking around it from the front.
One of the instigators of the incident, an Aqualish, seeing Nemo, decided to assert his rights.
If the guy hadn't been called for this queue, he probably would have even agreed. Although he couldn't give guarantees. He didn't waste time chatting with the passerby, raising his blaster and shooting the humanoid in the arm.
"This is my loot," he said in the confident voice of a man who considered himself in charge, and stared in surprise at the barrel pointed at him in the girl's hands, noting the whitened knuckles on the grip.
The Aqualish howled, clutching his shot limb. The crowd buzzed louder. Some recoiled – a broken ship wasn't worth the risk of a bolt to the face. Others, on the contrary, pressed closer. The air smelled palpably of an impending fight.
"The second shot will be fatal," Nemo said coldly, scanning the crowd again. He needed to identify the most aggressive ones and strike them if attacked. Then his gaze fell back on the blaster barrel aimed at him. The barrel of an excellent BlasTech blaster, banned in most of the galaxy. His tone shifted from cold and commanding to good-natured and somewhat playful, curiosity burning in his eyes.
"Miss Wedge, you summoned me just to shoot me?!"
"Mr. Nemo?" the girl's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I'm so glad to see you... Sorry, I didn't recognize you."
Ani took a breath and aimed at the crowd. Any precaution was not superfluous on this moon.
"Thank you for responding," she said even more softly. "I wouldn't have gotten out without you..."
"Pack your things and jump into my speeder," Nemo's car keys appeared in the counter's right hand. "I'll handle things here."
"But..." the girl looked around the crowd hesitantly, "how can I leave you? Two blasters are always better than one."
"Ani, this isn't a request," Nemo said calmly, but a clear command note entered his voice. How to say in one phrase that when she was here, he had to think not only about his own skin, but also about hers. That he could dodge a thrown stone, a piece of scrap metal, a blaster bolt, but she couldn't – and that could doom them both? That two blasters aren't always better than one? "You're needed elsewhere."
The second Aqualish ended the conversation. He was filling with dark blood, until fear gave way to anger. With a roar of fury, the vagrant snatched a blaster from his rags.
Nemo didn't even have time to think. An internal trigger activated when a living being became a target. He felt absolutely no regret at that moment when his hand sharply bent and fired two shots. One into the torso, the other slightly higher, adjusting the aim, into the head.
The body stretched out on the plastocrete, dropping its weapon. Someone immediately bent down to pick it up.
But he couldn't pick up the blaster. This was precisely the case when Pol, from her specialty's name – military doctor – remembered only the first part. That part of her worked, seeing danger in the sights, it worked almost instinctively. Two red beams, one after another, rushed to their target. Simultaneously with the flying chunks of concrete from the road surface, a long wail was heard.
Nemo wasn't going to let anyone get their hands on the weapon. Sweeping the crowd with his gaze, he slightly changed the blaster's position – the distance was already calibrated, and the bolt made a hole in the head of the one who had bent down. The wail cut off.
"Your lives aren't worth this," Nemo put Force into his voice for conviction, "disperse!"
"Mr. Nemo!" Ani's fingers on both hands seemed to be firmly gripping the blaster. "Please, let's fly together," her voice was almost pleading. "You have incredible rate of fire, but, believe me, no speeder is worth you exposing yourself to a bolt here..."
Nemo looked at the girl, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. The crowd, meanwhile, hesitated. Some wanted to leave, some to stay and take revenge, and it wasn't entirely clear which impulse would win in this single organism.
He held out the keys to the girl – once more.
"Get in the driver's seat, quickly," if they were to retreat, he had to cover them. And he simply had more shots in his blaster.
Keeping the crowd in his sights and not taking his eyes off it, Ani, not without difficulty, unclasped her hand, fumbled for the strap of her bag, tugged it, and with a sharp movement threw the bag over her shoulder. Her free hand immediately closed on the pistol grip. She covered the few steps to Ani's car as quickly as possible, while keeping a whole company at bay. Brushing against Nemo's open palm in passing, the girl quickly grabbed the keys. Throwing the bag into the open window was a matter of a second. The next moment, Ani opened the door with her free hand and sank into the driver's seat. The seat gently pulled her in with its fields. The key was immediately inserted into the "start" slot, and the console display flashed with bluish flight-ready signs. The speeder lifted off the concrete, turned slightly, and hovered next to Nemo, its opposite side facing him. Ani pressed a button on the control panel, and the door slid gently to the side.
"Jump in, Nemo," Ani shouted, "I'm not going anywhere without you!"
And something in her voice left no doubt about it.
The counter had already managed to weigh his chances against the crowd, which was still leaning towards the idea that there were many of them and they would overwhelm the upstart with their bodies, and everyone hoped they would be among the survivors. Grabbing the handrail, he jumped into the car.
"Let's go up," a hint of apprehension slipped into his voice, which he immediately tried to dilute by adding in a sarcastic, playful tone: "And carefully. I don't have money for another speeder."
Until Nemo manually closed the door, the blaster barrel continued to look at the raging crowd.
Ani didn't need to be told twice. She was finally able to catch her breath when Nemo was inside, and the speeder, pressing them into their seats, shot up above the crowd, which immediately lost interest in revenge and rushed towards the abandoned speeder. And Nemo might as well not have told her to be careful. Today was enough for the girl to tempt fate again...
The aero-route they entered was still overloaded, and if Ani's anxiety had wings, it would have carried them far ahead. But the speeder wedged itself into the flow and made no attempt to force it.
Her recklessness had already cost the lives of two poor wretches, albeit disgusting ones. But it was she who had tempted them with easy profit with her speeder, which had fallen from the sky. And she had also entangled Nemo in these troubles. Irresponsible girl, what the hell, lieutenant!
"If it weren't for you, Mr. Nemo..." she said quietly and fell silent. Could words express that death would not even be the worst end. Now the worst thing was not to live a completely different life. "I am your debtor. Thank you for pulling me out..."
After catching her breath, the adrenaline subsiding, Nemo turned to Ani, catching the route in his peripheral vision.
"Always happy to help," he said casually, "park at the first gas station."
"Why stop at a gas station when the 'Last Refuge' parking lot is nearby?"
Ani was slightly surprised but didn't show it. Besides, according to the navigator, the gas station was nearby.
"Here it is," now, on the right, even without the navigator, the enticingly bright holo-advertisement was visible, and the parking lot, onto which the narrow reflections of the letters fell. The speeder confidently turned off the busy highway, hovered over the landing platform in search of a spot, and gently landed on the concrete. Ani released the steering wheel and clasped her trembling fingers together so that her shaking would not be noticeable. Her gray eyes, turned towards Nemo, looked questioningly.
"Why are we sitting here?" Nemo looked good-naturedly at the girl. "Switch to the passenger seat. I'll be in charge of the parade from now on."
The girl smiled slightly: "With pleasure, Mr. Nemo," she said quite sincerely, getting up from the seat and moving to the adjacent one. The passenger seat. Ani really felt like she was strangling the steering wheel with all her might from the tension.
Nemo felt the emotions emanating from the girl, and after taking his seat, the speeder smoothly soared into the air, he said:
"It's not about how you drive, it's about conspiracy," he smiled, his gaze becoming glassy and focused only on the route, "there will be fewer questions if I drop you off and then just take the money."
"He's right," Ani thought, her gaze fixed somewhere into the distance. What had momentarily obscured these events was again rising before her, the awareness of responsibility for every glance, for every step. Because now not only her life was at stake.
"Then, please, to the 'Last Refuge', mister," Ani said without a trace of a smile.
"Whoa, whoa, easy," Nemo switched to a less busy lane, making sure no one was going to cut him off, "no need to turn a precaution into a spy farce."
"Be lenient, Mr. Nemo," the girl chuckled, glancing at him sideways. "I'm just a humble doctor, how would I know such subtleties? Spy stuff is clearly not for me," she said, examining her hand and trying to straighten her fingers. She had the firm hand of a military doctor, but after the blaster and steering wheel, there was still a slight stiffness.
"I was joking, the joke just didn't work out..." Ani leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes.
"It didn't work out this morning either."
"And I'm very late returning, Mr. Nemo," she said quietly with her eyes closed.
"I sometimes have a poor sense of humor. As for the last thing... Traffic jams," Nemo shrugged. He was also a little late, but didn't consider it a critical fact. His gaze fell on the rearview mirror, reflecting the speeder's cabin in a panorama. And blood on the girl's face. For him, this incident was over; his body had long since adjusted to shocks and recovered quickly from them, even without the Force. The car swerved again and flew out of the general flow, and fifty meters later landed gently on a small ledge. "You have blood."
He took out the first-aid kit under his seat and looked questioningly at the girl.
"I know this is a bit silly, but do you mind if I treat the wound?"
Ani opened her eyes and looked at the man in surprise.
Red streaks remained on her palm, brought to her forehead. "Hutt, again! I already treated and wiped off the blood!"
True, she couldn't look in the mirror after that.
"You know, it's strange for a doctor to feel like a patient... Especially with such a scratch..." she cast an ironic glance at Nemo. "This hasn't happened in my practice. Only when they carried them out..." she wanted to say "from battle," but faltered.
"You have to use this opportunity to be a patient," the girl quickly added, filling the sudden pause in her sentence.
"Go ahead, 'doc'," she nodded, pushing away unruly strands of hair from her forehead. "It won't hurt?"
"The last person I examined didn't complain," the counter smiled, took a small piece of cotton wool, moistened it with antiseptic, and wiped the wound again. In general, there was nothing to look at. Put on a plaster and forget. But his hands itched to try something new on another person. Touching the Force, he carefully ran along the edges of the wound, studying them and driving out excess antiseptic. And then he remembered a pattern in the Force and, overlaying it on Ani's wound, began to change it until the edges matched. It was something like assembling a microcircuit... Only instead of conductive channels, wires, transistors, and thyristors, it was living human flesh, with capillaries, nerve endings, and other biological devices. When, after a few seconds, Nemo carefully applied a bacta-plaster, there was only a reddening scar underneath.
"Did it hurt?" he sat back down, starting to shake off the tension from his fingers.
"No, of course not, Mr. Nemo! It was wonderful," Ani gently touched the plaster on her forehead and smiled. "Thank you, colleague. You saved me again. It would be wrong to show up in front of Mr. Tardi with a broken forehead."
"Yes, I'll have to tell him. But, at least the illustration won't be so colorful..."
The sensations she experienced were indeed very unusual. There wasn't even a word to describe it... Something weightless, invisible, seemingly alive, touched her skin. But it was impossible to see anything other than Mr. Nemo's hands. Most likely, she just imagined it, and it was not surprising.
Ani turned her head and looked with interest at the man sitting next to her.
"I suspect, Mr. Nemo, that 'the last person you examined' was your injured pilot?"
"You guessed wrong," Nemo smiled mysteriously, the speeder rejoining the rushing stream of the highway.
"So you have more extensive practice, Mr. Nemo, than I do. I only have one patient," the former smile quickly melted on her lips.
"But he is the one who worries and troubles me," Ani finished to herself what she hadn't said aloud, "Like everyone... Forty... - the subconscious helpfully prompted... - Like forty... Why forty?"
"Didn't they deliver the Durosa?" Nemo seemed genuinely worried, his lips turning into two thin lines on his face.
"No, Mr. Nemo," Ani replied, thinking about something else. "Mr. Tardi warned me about him, but he didn't show up. At least, not before I left," she added.
The self-control, so necessary when driving, was melting before her eyes. Enough time had passed... Did he disappear? Or was he starting to worry too soon? A unpleasant feeling gnawed at her stomach in anticipation of trouble. What if?!
She had to drive the thoughts away. Remember to control her emotions. They wouldn't lead to anything good.
"Ani," he said calmly, but his breathing became very deep and slow, "I think I'll go to the apartments with you. Hold the door for me."
With these words, he landed in the far parking lot near the cantina.