Trick, Trap, and Kidnap PART IV

Within minutes, the course was set and the ship turned in the opposite direction from the original Yavin destination. Benedict sat down next to the pilot as he pushed the last few controls to set the auto pilot. Soul reached into a small bag under his robe and pulled out a breath mask for her. He placed a similar one over his own face, then pointed to the door.

Benedict motioned for Marvin to unlock it. The pilot, after a brief hesitation, reluctantly got up and entered the appropriate code, but Soul didn't leave. Marvin returned to his pilot's seat, then, Ben took a deep breath and held the mask over Marvin's face as Soul opened the door.

The tall black man left the cockpit and headed back into the lounge. As the doors closed behind him, Benedict whispered, "Exhale and hold." She reached forward and took a few breaths from the mask, then handed it back to Marvin. "Still some traces of gas in here."

"I'm surprised you aren't just letting it knock me out," he muttered through the mask.

Benedict took another turn, looking at him scornfully. "Hey, someone has to keep an eye on things."

In the lounge, Soul waded through the bodies on the floor until he came to the three that Benedict had pointed out. Three would be plenty. Anymore would be troublesome. He picked them up, one at a time, and dragged them into one of the cabins, his own in fact. Inside, he opened a bag containing several binders among other gadgets. He placed a pair on the hands and feet of each of the three, then left and locked the door behind him. When he finished, he dragged the three other passengers' bodies to the shuttle's airlock, laying them one on top of the other. Finally, he dropped Gabrielle's limp form on top of the heap before returning to the cockpit.

"We're ready," he said through the mask. Benedict nodded and continued to pass the mask back and forth for several more minutes while the cockpit's self-contained ventilation system recycled the air, filtering out the last bits of gas that had gotten in when Soul had opened the hatch. While Marvin took his final share, she inhaled the air in the cabin lightly. "I think it's okay now."

Soul removed his mask. "I hate how that thing feels. Always leave a gross taste in my mouth!"

Marvin muttered _sotto voce_: "Nice to know something leaves a bad taste in your mouth..."

Benedict rolled her eyes at her husband and turned back to Marvin. "Open the airlock doors."

He whipped his head around. "What?!"

"Are you deaf? I said open the airlock doors."

"Why?"

Soul leaned over toward Benedict. "Just getting rid of the trash my friend." He kissed her lightly. "Just the trash."

Marvin folded his arms, his eyes narrowing. "We dumped the trash on Urslin. There's no reason for this."

The couple stared at him blankly, then glanced at each other in disbelief for Marvin's thick-headedness.

"What are you hiding? What have you done with my passengers?!"

Benedict smiled at him. "We're not hiding anything..." she winked at Soul, "...just stealing. Now open the doors."

"No! I'd rather die then help scum like you." He glared at her, rage taking over, rage at the hijacking, and especially at the murder of his co-pilot and life partner, Gabrielle. It made him reckless.

She raised her eyebrows. "We don't want you dead, old man, but believe me...there are many places on the human body where a blaster bolt can cause non-fatal, but excruciating pain," she said, placing the muzzle of the gun to his thigh.

"No... If it's that important to you that the doors get opened, you can damn well do it yourself!"

"Show me the control and I will."

Marvin glared at her. "If you know well enough to know that I wasn't locking the door, you surely know enough about ship systems to do it yourself without my help." A look of horror crossed his face as it suddenly came clear to him what they meant to do. "No! You aren't making me a murderer!" He launched himself from his chair to knock Benedict over, grabbing for her blaster.

Soul instinctively fired at Marvin's leg. The pilot screamed as the blast charred his flesh, but kept his grip on Benedict's wrists, trying to get the weapon from her. He collapsed to the floor as his leg gave way beneath him.

Soul stalked over and kicked Marvin in the gut. "Don't you ever...EVER threaten my wife again. Do you understand me? If you want to live, you will do as we tell you!" A fire flared up in Soul's eyes. "Now which button?"

"You--can't kill me--not if--you don't know how--to operate the--ship." The pilot clutched at his damaged leg and gasped in pain.

Soul kicked him again-two short, sharp, damaging blows. "I don't need to kill you."

Tears--of rage, pain, sorrow?--leaked from Marvin's eyes as he succumbed to the mistreatment. "That one..."

He flinched as Benedict hit it, sending alarms blasting from speakers throughout the ship as the outer airlock door parted from its seal. The decompression rocked the vessel, and the unconscious bodies spilled into the roiling murk of hyperspace. Marvin's shaking body got slammed into the base of his pilot's chair, and the pair of hijackers grabbed hold of whatever they could to keep from cracking their own heads open on the controls. After ten full seconds, Benedict hit the button again, closing the airlock. She ignored Marvin for the moment and smiled at Soul. "That's that. We just need to flush the ventilation system in the rest of the ship and we're good to go."

Soul smiled back at her and hooked an arm around her waist. "You, my dear, are so smart."

"I couldn't have done it without you," she replied before he pulled her in for a deep kiss.

****************
Nearly a day later, the ship landed in a remote field on Dantooine. Soul stayed with Marvin as Benedict exited into the bright afternoon sunlight. A ship laid in wait before her with three courier crew members waiting by a small shuttle. She smiled broadly and whipped off her robe. She waved it over her head in joy as she approached the group.

"Afternoon boys!" she called, "We got three of 'em for ya!"

One of the crew members stared at the her. "Let's see them."

"Well that's just it, you'll need to come aboard and get them. See one of them is apparently a Jedi Master named Skywalker, and...there ain't no way in hell that I'm getting close to him, gassed or not!"

"Skywalker...really?" the second courier said, tossing a sideways glance at his coworkers. "We'll give you an extra ten for him."

Benedict beamed.

"So they are unconscious?" asked the third.

"Well duh! Come on," she waved them toward the ship, then turned and skipped back on board. Fifteen minutes later, the crew had removed Luke, Jerella, and Octavia from their ship and replaced them on the courier's.

Benedict and Soul were standing over Marvin's body in an embrace, seventy thousand credits richer; her gun still smoking from the fresh blast she put in his skull.

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