The Dark Lord

Chapter 8: Debris

I thought I'd made it. I was stupid enough to think the ship wouldn't chase me down. Of course it would, it was ordered to! So as my ship was being tailed by about a dozen of small fighter ships and its shields being mauled by blaster-fire, I was trying to think of an escape plan. So I flew into the only thing the flagship couldn't follow me into: the nearby asteroid field.

It was stupid, reckless and insane. And it was desperate. I wouldn't be able to survive in open space. My ship wouldn't make it. But I was, and still am, a damn good pilot. So I flew to the asteroid field and came up with an escape plan.

The larger warship could never have hoped to follow me into the field, or through it, without losing speed, and going around would take forever. This meant that my only worry was the fighter ships following me.

Right, the fighter ships. My shields were failing, I was shouting at myself in the cockpit as I tried to navigate through the floating rocks. An asteroid floated right in front of my ship, I pulled up with all my strength, and I felt nothing change even though the ship was turned to a completely different angle. Then two of the ships went 'boom'.

Explosions were heard as the ships right behind me hit the asteroid that my ship had hidden from their view, until it was too late. I've never enjoyed an explosion that much... then I remembered the rest of the ships. How many, ten, nine? I wasn't quite sure. But they followed, that much I knew.

So I kept on dodging asteroids and eventually I heard more 'booms'. More explosions, which I counted. Three, four, five. Six, seven, eight. A small asteroid hit my ship and shattered into a million pieces, making a huge dent on the wing. And then it happened again. I felt the ship shake slightly from the impact. Then, finally, I came out from the other side of the asteroid field. There was one more fighter following my trail.

I flipped my ship around to face the enemy. It was coming for me, I needed to act quick. Shields were failing, one or two more shots and it was over. I needed to do something. So I did another stupid, reckless and insane stunt, although in a smaller scale.

I jumped. Up from my seat, over the control panels, and landed next to the gunner's seat. I slammed the big red button in the middle of the control panel of the seat as hard as I could.

It fired. It hit. Boom.

I was safe.

I looked at the amount of debris from the small ship, I remember staring at it for a long time. After I'd calmed down I went back to my seat, set a new course and left, looking for escape from lord Koris' flagship. And in my mind were two more things that I needed to know, two more questions that needed answers:

What did I do on Ryloth? And why can't I remember a thing about it?