Gritting my teeth, I turned away from the unconscious Inquisitor, forcing myself to focus on the immediate problem at hand. We needed a few more things before we left, and time was running out. It wouldn’t be long before reinforcements arrived, and Retra’s absence would raise alarms.

  “Roan, you’re bleeding!” Teya exclaimed, her eyes widening as she noticed the red staining my right sleeve.

  I looked down, feeling a dull, pulsing pain I had tried to ignore. A deep red was seeping from a wound on my forearm, likely from shrapnel when Retra’s lightsaber exploded. I had been too focused on our escape to register the injury fully.

  “I’ve got it,” I said through gritted teeth, pulling out a makeshift advanced med kit I had assembled over the years. I grabbed a pair of long tweezers and a magnet—both tools from my workbench that might help me extract whatever had lodged itself in my arm.

  First, I waved the magnet over the wound, hoping to pull out any metallic fragments. But there was no reaction; whatever was inside my arm wasn’t magnetic. I sighed, pouring a small glass of water over the wound to clear away some of the blood and get a better look. Using the tweezers, I tried to grip the object, but it was buried too deep, pressing against the bone.

  “Try using the Force to remove it, Roan,” Teya suggested, her voice tinged with concern. “You have amazing control—it should be easy for you.”

  I nodded and focused, attempting to channel the Force to extract the object. But as soon as I made contact with it, a searing pain shot through my arm, like fire burning beneath my skin. I gasped, jerking my hand back instinctively. When I looked at the wound, I saw that the edges were blackened, cauterized by the intense heat.

  “Of all the crazy things to happen today, this has to be the most unlikely,” I muttered, my voice dripping with irony.

  Teya frowned, leaning closer. “What do you mean? What is it?”

  I let out a bitter laugh. “It’s a shard of her Kyber crystal. It’s embedded in my arm, lodged right against the bone. I can’t remove it surgically, and if I try using the Force, it burns me from the inside.”

  Teya winced in sympathy but tried to lighten the mood. “Well, look at the bright side—at least you finally got a crystal of your own.”

  “Too soon, Teya,” I replied with a grimace.

  She gave me a sheepish smile. “Sorry. Will you be okay?”

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  I forced a grin. “Yeah, I’ll just use some Bacta on it. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve patched myself up.”

  “You have a Bacta tank?” Teya asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

  I shook my head, gesturing to the canister in my med kit. “No, but I have a stabilized gel I made myself. It’s cultured from basic ingredients, like the real stuff. Bacta is too expensive to buy in bulk, so I figured out a workaround.”

  She examined the canister, a small smile of admiration crossing her face. “That’s... really clever, Roan. And useful.”

  I applied the gel, feeling the cooling sensation seep into the wound. It wasn’t a miracle cure, but it would help numb the pain and accelerate the healing enough to keep me moving. As I packed up my med kit, I noticed Teya applying some of the gel to Retra’s scorched stumps.

  I sighed internally and turned back to Retra’s limp form, rifling through her belt pouches. I pulled out her ID card, activation cylinder, and code cylinder—everything we’d need to access her ship and the hangar.

  Teya glanced over, her expression shifting from concern to disapproval. “What are you doing?”

  I met her gaze evenly. “We need a ship, and she won’t be using hers anytime soon. We just need to grab some armor from a few troopers, and we’re out of here.”

  She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Ugh, I don’t want to undress them or wear their sweaty armor.”

  I raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at my lips. “Get over it. We all have to do things we don’t like to survive.”

  Teya shot me a glare but didn’t argue. She gathered her things, and together we slipped out the back of the shop. The early morning light cast long shadows over the streets, the city still waking up around us. We moved quickly, staying out of sight as we made our way to the Imperial hangar.

  We took cover behind a stack of crates outside the hangar entrance, watching as two troopers stood guard. I closed my eyes, reaching out with the Force, sending a small noise echoing from the shadows. The troopers glanced toward the sound, one of them stepping away to investigate.

  I moved a small pebble with the Force, skittering it across the ground near the remaining guard. He looked down, distracted.

  Bang!

  Both troopers crumpled to the ground, knocked out by a well-aimed bearing. Teya and I quickly stripped them of their armor, donning the white helmets and suits. I chuckled when Teya scrunched up her nose in disgust, wrinkling her face as she adjusted the ill-fitting armor.

  She gave me a light slap on the shoulder, but it didn’t stop my quiet laughter. “You’ll pay for that, Roan.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s move.”

  With the armor on, we advanced into the facility. Retra’s clearance codes allowed us to bypass the initial security checkpoints, making our way deeper into the hangar. The hangar itself was sparsely guarded—likely because access required Retra’s authorization. As we reached her ship, Teya took the pilot’s seat, her fingers dancing over the controls.

  “Got it. We’re clear to launch,” she said, a note of excitement in her voice as the engines hummed to life.

  The hangar doors opened, revealing the vast darkness of the night sky. The ship’s engines roared as Teya pushed them to their limits, and the alarms blaring in the hangar seemed to grow distant as we gained altitude.

  “Speed up, Teya! Pursuers will be right behind us!” I shouted, gripping the edge of the cockpit as the ship shot forward. Through the viewport, I spotted Imperial speeders swarming below, their flashing lights scattered across the landscape. They wouldn’t reach us in time—but we weren’t in the clear yet.