He adjusted the yaw and scanned the space around them. There were at least two more hostile fighters zipping around his command shuttle, more nimble but far less experienced than the man at the helm.
Shots flashed across dark space, going wide, fading off into nothingness, past the far edge of the squadron. Their x-wings rearranged formation, swinging around to flank.
"You okay out there Gold 3?"
Static crackled over the short wave relay, then, "Watch your starboard."
Instinctively, he rolled to starboard, somersaulting past the incoming fighter. Stars spun across the viewport and the hazy lavender atmosphere of Chio glowed in the periphery. Laser shots flared against the shields, but they held, and Gold 6 handily picked off the fighter in a shower of sparks.
"There's just one more. I'll take care of him. Make the jump, I'll follow you after I clean this up."
To port, he saw the flicker of the remaining X-wings massing into travel formation. Behind them came the last fighter, and he deftly maneuvered to draw it away from the smaller ships. The play worked, and it tailed him towards the nearby moon as he redirected power to the aft shields and guns.
A few shots glanced off the shields, rocking the shuttle a bit but doing no harm.
The gunner got off a few shots, but they barely gazed the fighter, and it swung across the space behind them, moving wide, just out of range. He tried to flip back behind, but this ship just wasn't as nimble as the fighter, and barely succeeded in bringing it back into firing range. The gunner got off a better shot this time, though.
But instead of flaring and imploding, the pilot managed a last ditch kamikaze mission, aimed straight at them. He took evasive maneuvers, but it happened too quickly to completely avoid collision. The ship bucked wildly upon impact, metal and plastene squealing and straining. Warning sirens blared, red lights flashing in the cockpit. All shields were down and the acrid smell of a chemical leak filled the ship.
"Mayday mayday. Republic command shuttle Iveston. Mayday mayday. Incoming to Chio, this is Republic command shuttle Iveston."
He activated the distress beacon, and shifted all his concentration and considerable experience to getting them within atmospheric range of the nearby moon. If only they could get into the atmosphere, they might just stand a chance. He throttled the accelerator and aimed for the bright looming moon.
More warning klaxons blared, and the ship shuddered, responding sluggishly to controls and stuttering in flight. For a moment, it seemed motionless, then jerked wildly to port, towards Chio, gravity taking hold and atmosphere flaring bright in the viewport. The ship felt suddenly warmer.
"Mayday mayday, this is Republic command shuttle Iveston. General Solo requesting emergency clearance. Mayday—"
The shriek of the hull breach warning drowned out anything else he might have tried to say, and the ship shook violently. His head slammed back against the seat, and the ship entered the mesosphere of the moon as he lost consciousness.