Star Wars: Heir to the Sith (Part 1) (#Wattys2018 shortlist)

Chapter 13: It exploded in a blistering inferno.

The trooper cried out again, and this time his outstretched arm was severed at the shoulder as the shield's function changed. The man fell, shrieking one final time as the shield changed above him, in micro-second segments.

Like three trimmed pieces of meat under a sharp skillet, he fell in three different ways.

Some of those inside the shield turned back to run the shorter distance from under the unpredictable curtain. The majority, beyond the half way point, pressed on.

Another man fell, several yards away from the first casualty, this time cut from head to foot side on. In desperation, another aimed his blaster at the nearest generator, hovering high above, and opened up on it with full intensity.

Pina knew there was nothing they could do. There was nothing anyone could do now the technician was dead and their signals were being blocked.

Tears of angry frustration blurred his limited vision. He swore, and as a third man fell to the invisible scythes of sheet energy, he perceived a movement from his left.

It was the Lady Jish, racing toward the shield wall in her speeder. She was alone, her face set forward, her leg crouched as though she were ready to jump.

She pulled back the stick and the speeder rose sharply, the shield wall turning blue beneath its fast-moving hull. Up she rose, using the shield itself to propel the speeder's limited anti-gravity engine as a substitute for the ground.

Pina watched in disbelief. A speeder of that sort was never designed to go so high. Surely she would tip over and fall?

Incredibly, she didn't. The speeder gained the top of the shield and skipped across the edge, straight toward the generator.

As she neared there was a slash of light from her hand, a pure green blaze of energy that could only be a metre or so in length. In a second she was beside the generator, leaning toward it, stabbing at it–

The generator belched a spark. Flames burst from its interior and it exploded in a blistering inferno. Lady Jish careened past, the green blaze now gone, but the speeder now out of control and its bow aflame from the generator's explosion.

Pina heard his men shout in triumph. The shield died and they were free to move.

He looked back at the speeder. Jish angled the stick and Pina heard the engine groan as she increased the power. With nothing beneath it for the anti-gravity to push against, the speeder was in free fall.

Jish angled the speeder to her starboard. Her trajectory carried her toward the inside of the next shield wall that was on Pina's right.

He prayed to whatever gods of the ancients he could remember. Surely it would be impossible to keep the thing upright at that speed?

The burning bow of the vehicle tipped blue as it skimmed the inside of the shield wall. The speeder bounced and came down again, once more stabilising off the shield's energy in place of the ground.

But Pina knew she could not stop in time. She was coming in too fast for anything but a crash landing.

The speeder made a final touch of the shield wall and bounced away again. There was no longer enough distance for her to make another attempt. This time, there was only the ground.

Pina heard her scream as she heaved back on the stick, but the nose wouldn't lift fast enough. The front edge of the speeder caught the ground and it spun, throwing Jish clear.

The vehicle cartwheeled through the line of stormtroopers who jumped out of its flaming path.

Jish threw her arms over her head and gave a scream as she hit the ground, rolling for several yards.

Then there was silence.

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You sometimes have to feel sorry for stormtroopers don't you? If they aren't being shot down by cunning rebels, or roasted and eaten by Ewoks, then they are being sliced to pieces by damaged Sentient Fences. But what do you think of the Lady Jish? Why would she rescue the trapped Imperial forces? And what was it that she used to disable the generator?