Star Wars - Kenobi

droid, standing by the doorway. “I’ll watch the feed from up here. Can you bring me some caf?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
    ORRIN LUNGED TO THE right. He’d seen the sealed door there, providing Hutt-sized access to the street. But a Gamorrean waddled in front of the exit, giant blade in giant hand. Another giant lumbered toward Orrin from behind. Bojo Boopa and Jorrk blocked the main entrance and any chance of reaching his comlinks and blaster, still sitting tantalizingly on the table.
    “Time to play ‘Fry the farmer’!” Boopa said.
    “Fry, fry!” Jorrk exclaimed with glee.
    Orrin looked around in desperation. All he saw was Mosep, trying to escape the center of the room before the Gamorrean behemoth stepped on him. “Careful, friends!” Mosep said. “There’s no need to be hasty. Most accidents happen in the workplace!”
    The Gamorrean behind him lunged. Orrin twisted and fat fingers raked at his back. But the movement only brought Orrin into Jorrk’s reach. “Fryfryfry!”
    “No!” Orrin wrested free from the Klatooinian and fell toward the wooden platform. His chest slammed against the tile floor. He tried to wriggle forward, but Jorrk grabbed at his feet. Writhing, the farmer rolled over—and at that instant, he heard a metallic snap. A dark metal shape appeared above the heads of his attackers.
    Klaaang! The heavy metal cage from the rafters crashed down, pummeling one of the advancing Gamorreans, caroming off the green brute, and knocking Jorrk off his feet. Startled, another of the Gamorreans stumbled backward and landed on Mosep. The accountant howled in pain.
    Boopa pointed up into the dome: a square opening now existed in the mesh where the metal prison had been. Still on his back, Orrin saw what Boopa saw: a tan-clad figure high in the lofty shadows, clinging to what remained of the chain.
    “Somebody’s up there!” the Gossam shouted. “Blast him!”
    Forgetting the farmer, Boopa started shooting upward. Jorrk joined him, and then two more guards entered from the hallway, blasters raised. Orrin took a quick look at the figure above; whoever was up there was now in spectacular motion, using the cage’s severed lifting chain to bounce from wall to wall. Orrin couldn’t wait any longer. On his hands and knees, he quickly scuttled up the platform and behind the desk.
    Orrin instantly realized that the Nimbanel’s desk was in the safest place in the room. All the gun-toting thugs were firing upward, through the gap and the meshwork. And while the shots seemingly had no effect on the impossibly nimble intruder, they did get the attention of the dozen or so Kayven whistlers in the dome. Annoyed by the blasterfire, the meter-long reptilian fliers soared downward, swooping through the opening toward anything moving.
    “Yaaaghh!” Jorrk yelled as a whistler latched onto his shoulder and bit. The Gamorreans were squealing, trying to fend off attacking fliers with their axes.
    “The door!” Boopa yelled, cowering behind a statue. “Open the doors to the street!”
    “Only Jabba’s sled triggers the door!” came a response from somewhere in the room.
    Orrin hid under the desk. Now and again, the terrified farmer heard a fleshy thud nearby. He peeked out to search for a weapon but could find only credits, scattered on the floor around him.
    “Close the blast door,” someone yelled. “They’ll get into the house!”
    But Orrin did not hear a door being moved. All he heard were screams, the thunder of feet, and the high-pitched whistles of Kayven predators that had evidently gone off their diets. The ruckus finally faded when the parties involved took the fray into the rest of the residence.
    The room fell silent. Orrin cowered beneath the desk, which had twisted sideways in the bustle. Before he could emerge, however, he saw Boopa creeping out from behind a bronze statue. Wary and frazzled, the Gossam looked up and around. Spying Orrin, he pulled a blaster from one of his holsters.
    “I didn’t do this!” Orrin yelled.
    “I’m sure you didn’t, water man. But somebody’s gonna suffer for this,” Boopa said, climbing the platform. He pointed the blaster down at Orrin, underneath the desk.
    Orrin felt the sudden thump of boots on the desktop above him, out of his sight. He saw Boopa looking up, astonished.
    “You?” Boopa yelled. “I’ve seen you before!” Orrin saw the Gossam raise his blaster—
    —and vanish. Boopa rocketed off his feet and flew toward the far wall.