"So, how we doing?"
Hera Syndulla prayed for patience as she banked the Ghost to starboard. A turbolaser bolt flashed by to port.
"You're sitting in the upper turret, Zeb, you can see as well as I can," snapped Hera.
"Can we get into hyperspace," Ezra Bridger chimed in from the lower turret.
"Negative," Hera said, "That nebula's disrupting the gravity too much!"
"And we can't get clear," Kanan Jarrus groused from the co-pilot's seat, "With that Gozanti cruiser on our flank."
"That ship's laser cannons are way too powerful," Sabine Wren opined from the forward turret. "They've been up-gunned. Probably the Empire."
The deck jumped violently and a pair of TIE fighters arced past them.
"Wait, those are mining guild TIE fighters," Sabine exclaimed.
Indeed, the fighter's vanes had the distinctive yellow paint of the Guild.
"The Empire's arming the Guild with heavy weapons now?"
"If we don't get out of this," Ezra began anxiously.
"I know, I know," growled Hera, "then Phoenix Squadron won't have enough medical supplies to keep operating!" She steered the Ghost hard the other way.
"You're taking us into that nebula," Kanan exclaimed, "Are you crazy?"
"No, just desperate," Hera said sharply.
"Hera, I learned about that nebula in the Academy," Sabine called anxiously over the comm, "It's gas density is really high; it's a young supernova remnant. There are gravitational anomalies and..."
"And the mining guild would be crazy to follow us," Ezra put in, "I get it. Can we get through, Hera?"
"Only one way to find out," Hera said, and gunned the engine.
The nebula was a sickly blend of yellow and purple gas clouds, the flickering glare of pulsars spread out through them.
"Okay," Hera breathed, keeping a firm grip on the helm. Kanan looked anxiously around as the hull creaked and groaned from the shifts in gravity.
Then the deck lurched again and Zeb said, "That cruisers following us! It's docked its TIEs and it's coming right after us!"
"Are they crazy," Sabine yelled.
"I don't think we should be pointing fingers about that," Kanan pointed out.
"They're coming up on our starboard side," Sabine yelled.
"If we turn away, they'll just chase us," Kanan said, his Jedi calm fraying badly at this point.
"Then we don't turn away," Hera said, "Their TIE fighters can't fly against the gravity sheer, so we can outmaneuver them! Everybody, get ready to fire forward, all guns!"
And with that, she veered the Ghost toward the cruiser, and flew right at them, lasers blazing.
"Hera," Kanan warned, "watch out for that pulsar!"
"We're far enough I can slingshot it," Hera said. The deck yawed.
"We're hit on the port-aft," Kanan said, "we've got partial engine failure, and deflectors have buckled!"
"Hang on!"
The deck shuddered violently and a blinding light filled the ship...