Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of LucasFilm Ltd, not me. I do not own any characters, other than Chiara.

This is only my second fic, please be gentle! Feedback is always very welcome, so please R&R.


Chapter 1

A lone starfighter shot through space, dodging and weaving as if evading some invisible enemy with a series of dare devil stunts. The pilot pulled hard on the stick, causing the fighter to slew hard to port, then dropped into a dive back towards the surface of the planet below.

"So, how do you like it?" A voice crackled in the pilots ear.

"I love it!" She exclaimed. "It handles so smoothly. You've done a great job on the design - I didn't think it was possible to make a fighter that was so maneuverable and that had hyperspace capabilities, at this point. I'm impressed."

"Well, now, that's quite an accomplishment. I think that I can count on one hand the number of times that I have managed to impress the great Chiara Matao."

Chiara laughed, easing back on the stick and heading back towards space, throwing in a few loops. "Well, Dorja, there was that one time at Corellia..."

Dorja's deeper, throaty laugh joined with hers. "Ah, those were the good old days! Now, were you planning on bringing my prototype back any time soon? I do need it back so I can work out the instabilities in the hyperdrive. It's still-" His voice dissolved into a high-pitched squeal. Chiara jerked her head away from the comm speaker, wondering if there was a lingering bug in the comm system that he needed to work out, too. She slapped off the comm in annoyance just as the hairs on the back of her neck started to tingle. Without thinking, she threw the fighter into a dizzying series of evasive maneuvers. Just in time - a pair of laser bolts lanced through space where she had just been. One part of her mind marveled at how responsive the fighter prototype was, even while the other part searched the displays for her attacker.

Her stomach lurched as she saw her assailant on the displays. It was a blue and grey painted Assault Frigate which could belong to only one person. How did Xanix find me so soon? He's supposed to still be chasing that false trail I laid down in the Elrami system. But there was no time to spend wondering who had betrayed her. In addition to Xanix's distinctive flagship, two more warships were dropping out of hyperspace just ahead of her. Shields, where were the shields on this thing? Dorja hadn't given her a complete run through of the controls - after all, this was just supposed to be a quick test run to see what she thought of his new fighter design. She slapped a bank of switches on, hoping desperately that she had picked the right ones. Nothing happened. Cursing under her breath, she pushed a green button just as another laser blast sizzled past her canopy. Xanix's ships were still far enough out that they were just taking potshots, but once they got the range, she was going to be bantha fodder.

Chiara twisted a nob on her left and was finally rewarded with a beep and a shield indicator appeared on the displays. She tried the comm next, simultaneously pulling hard on the etheric rudder and nearly standing the fighter on its nose in an attempt to evade the gunners on the other ships. Another high pitched squeal burst out of the speaker by her head. "Dorja?" She called, "Dorja, I really hope you can hear me. You had better send in the security, we've got company."

There was no reply. Not that she had been expecting anything. They must be jamming her signal. Silencing the comm once again, she took a deep breath and stretched out to the Force, letting it guide her hands to continue her evasive maneuvers while she considered her options. The other two warships opened fire as she thought. She was out here alone in a fighter that had yet to be tested in battle, up against three very formidable looking war vessels. Depending on how angry Xanix was, he would either try to capture her or simply shoot her out of the sky. Given their last encounter, she was willing to bet that he would go for the latter option. What are my options, here? I can't fight them, not in this half-finished bucket of bolts. I can't outrun them. She glanced up at the approaching ships. If she could beat them back to the planet, the planetary defense grid should be automatically activated if they tried to shoot her down. It was going to be close, though, and she would be dangerously exposed for several seconds as she passed through the optimal firing range. Gritting her teeth, she punched the thrusters, making a mad dive for the planet. The acceleration pushed her back in her seat as the inertial dampeners tried to keep up with the sudden dive. The warship on the right was starting to respond, trying clumsily to match her dive, angling in to cut her off. A stray laser from the one above stuck a glancing blow to the aft deflector, setting off the wail of a warning alarm. Her danger sense tingled again and she abandoned her dive for a quick roll to the port, barely avoiding another flurry of laser bolts that burned through the space she had just occupied.

Chiara glanced at her display as she resumed her dive and cursed. The precious seconds she had lost in that evasive maneuver were going to cost her. She would be hard pressed to slip by the ship that was angling to cut off her escape to the planet, and now she would be in their laser range for a few seconds longer than would have been necessary before. What was more, it seemed that her aft deflector had been shorted out by that one laser blast, taking most of her aft sensors with it. She was blinded to the movements of the Assault Frigate on her tail. She cut power to the now-useless sensors and tried to redirect it into the engines, coaxing them for every last bit of speed. This fighter was designed to be one of the fastest on the market, but she wasn't sure it was going to be fast enough.

A warning alarm sounded from the console. She tried to lean forward against the pressure of the dive that the inertial dampeners couldn't quite eliminate and quickly located the new threat: two proton torpedoes, heading right towards her. So, he had decided that killing her was easier than capturing her. At least I won't have to find out what new tortures he has thought up for me, she thought with a grim smile. Let's see if this anti-torpedo idea of Dorja's actually works. Chiara flipped a switch on the console and a small, silvery object dropped out neatly behind her. Two thin cables shot out from the package, latching on to the two torpedoes and reeling them in. Chiara was still marveling that this new invention of Dorja's worked at all when the torpedoes collided, exploding in midair.

She was just turning her attention back to the Black Death when the fighter bucked like a startled nerf, throwing her against her restraints. Alarms screamed at her from every direction as the ship spiraled out of control. Xanix's flagship had finally managed to connect, its laser bolts burning through the engine section of the prototype fighter. A detached part of her brain marveled at the fact that the little fighter hadn't exploded while she assessed the damage. Three out of four engines were failing and there was no way she was going to make it to the safety of the planet, now.

As she watched the display, trying to sort through her options, two then three of the engine indicator lights flickered and then went out. Another pair of lasers lanced past her cockpit. They had the range, now, and it wouldn't take long before her ship got blown to shrapnel. She had exactly one option left, and it was desperate to the point of being suicidal. The hyperdrive was still a work in progress and Dorja had warned her that it wasn't stable enough to be used. It was her only chance at surviving the next few minutes.

Chiara glanced at the incoming warships and grimaced as another blast caught her squarely on the forward shields, rocking the little ship and setting off another half dozen alarms. Setting her teeth, she pulled hard on the stick, ignoring the squeal off protest that the lone working engine gave off. Half way through the turn, the inertial dampeners started to fail, hurling her sideways into the side of the cockpit. Her head struck the edge of the cockpit, momentarily stunning her. She felt blood start to trickle down her forehead as she fought against the force of her spin that was pressing her back into the side of her seat. Another laser missed her by no more than a meter, darkening the canopy as it scorched by. Spots started to swim at the edges of her vision as she her body was subjected to far too much G force as the inertial dampeners continued to fail.

With one final effort, she pushed hard against the side of the cockpit, throwing herself forward to the control board. Her fingers closed around the hyperspace lever. With a glance toward the warship that was now looming directly above her, she eased the lever back. The star blurred into starlines and, with a horrible sounding thud from somewhere aft, Chiara was thrown back into her seat as the failing dampeners weren't able to keep up with the sudden forward thrust. Her head snapped back to hit the back of the cockpit and the world went black.