The Corellian G9 light freighter, Fortune's Keep, shook violently as its shields worked to shed the heat from anther laser blast. A red light flashed warning on the flight control panel.
Leeb Nesh's knuckles clinched white on the stick as he fought to turn the star craft through a tight spinning maneuver trying to shake the pair of TIE fighters pursing his flight from Balamak.
"We're losing the rear deflector shields….get a lock on them!" the large eyed pilot squeaked.
Behind him the astromech droid DX, named so because it had undergone so many upgrades and hastily made repairs that its original series was impossible to distinguish, turned its manipulator arm inside the computer terminal.
His second crew member the tall and lean Trandoshan that Black Sun had sent along with him, Hallisk, frantically tried to keep both himself and the droid from being bounced around the front cabin.
The Captain's pleas were answered an instant later as the TIE fighter that had been hammering the portside burst into a ball of flames. The droid had finally found its target.
"Yeeeaaaahh!" The Sullustan sang in satisfaction.
That left only one TIE to deal with. Leeb Nesh cut the throttle greatly reducing his speed. The TIE was caught off guard by this tactic and soared past its prey. He quickly squeezed the trigger on the remote operated dual blaster cannons hitting the fighter dead center and blowing it to atoms.
Hallisk's hissing sigh of relief and DX's triumphant whirling beeps filled the cockpit. Leeb Nesh's smile broadening until he spotted an arrow shaped blip on the radar display. A Star Destroyer hung in orbit around Balamak and a swarm of TIE fighters were already speeding to intercept them.
Onboard the Victory Class Star Destroyer, Adder, an orderly looked up from his console and reported:
"Captain Bever, we have a ship on our screens. A freighter reported to have lifted from the planet without authorization. The local authorities believe it to connected to recent raids of an Imperial Armory."
"Smugglers" Captain Bever said in clipped tone. "Dispatch a wing of TIEs to destroy them."
"We're not out of this yet!"
The crew became deathly still. The scream of engines being pushed to the limits filled the silence as their glazes followed the Captain's pointed finger out the view panel to the Star Destroyer blocking the escape route.
The Fortune's Keep and TIE fighter squadron raced head on toward each other.
"DX turn those guns around!" Leeb Nesh ordered; if he could evade those fighters long enough to make the jump to hyperspace.
Forcing his weight back into the acceleration chair, Leeb Nesh took the stick and sent the ship into a dive. Half of the TIEs followed. Then suddenly he banked the boxy craft upward into the Star Destroyer's oncoming turbo laser fire. His moves forcing the TIES to take a long circle through space away from the freighter, avoiding the crossfire and spoiling their shots.
The Sullustan triggered a series of burst from the forward guns clipping a TIE and sending it spinning away out of control. He continued his on path forward straight into the ships harassing him until they changed course to avoid collision. The Captain's moves created an opening large enough for the ship flee through the enemies' formation.
"DX set the nav computer for our jump to Hutt Space."
Nothing happened. Leeb Nesh turned to see that the droid's photoreceptors and other system operating lights had gone dark.
"Stang! All the excitement must have thrown his motivator off again!"
The Trandoshan was desperately clawing at the view ports as though fear had turned him into a lizard trying to dig its way out of a glass tank. Leeb Nesh rushed past wrapping his arm around the broken droid to steady his work. With his other hand he grasp the vice grips that were now a permanent part of the R1's hardware. Hurriedly he turned the tool counter clockwise and paused to flip a switch that would bring the copilot back into service.
After a few tries had failed the droid came to stuttering start, his manipulator arm shaking inside the computer socket. The ship lurched forward and the stars became bright streaks through the view port.
"Captain Bever, they've escaped, sir."
"No matter" he straightens his stance. "We know where they are going and we will have a garrison waiting for them."