As my green-and-white X-wing starfighter emerged from hyperspace, I checked the aft sensors for signs of pursuit. My name is Corran Horn. I am a former law enforcement officer from the Corellian Security force, known as CorSec. However, certain circumstances have dictated that I leave my homeworld. Ever since leaving Corellia one jump ahead of CorSec's Imperial liason Kirtan Loor, I had twice been attacked by bounty hunters, hoping to cash in on the price on my head, courtesy of my old comrade Gil Bastra, who had created a false warrant for my arrest in order to help me escape Corellia, and Kirtan Loor. The Empire was increasingly becoming a hindrance, as when Loor released the bounty hunter who murdered my father, Hal Horn.
This was not good. A flight of TIE fighters surrounding a Lancer-class frigate was off my port S-foil, but still a good distance away. There was still a chance I could avoid detection. I quickly began calculating another hyperspace jump to get me out of there, but too late. The TIEs began heading my direction,
"Unidentified X-wing, this is the Imperial shuttle Tyridium. Power down your weapons and lower your shields. You are flying a Rebel fighter, and are running under a false transponder ID. The frigate will catch you in a tractor beam and pull you in. Do not resist or you will be destroyed."
Sithspit. This was really not good. Apparently they assumed that my X-wing was part of a Rebel group, and had decided to haul me in for interrogation. Not that that wasn't my intention, but I simply hadn't located any Rebel groups yet. This didn't really sound like a lot of fun, so I figured it was time to get out of there. Kicking the X-wing up on its side, I triggered a burst of laser fire at the incoming TIEs, nailing one and sending it into a spin that caused it to collide with one of its flightmates. I grinned, two avians with one blaster bolt. Unfortunately, there were still ten more "eyeballs", not to mention the shuttle and the frigate.
"Unidentified X-wing, surrender now or be destroyed."
Of course not. I'd be killed anyway, the only difference is it would be later and slow instead of now and fast. I continued to jink as the TIEs closed in. I nailed another one in a brief head-to-head pass, but the shuttle had entered the battle, spitting lasers all across space in my general direction. This couldn't go on forever. I could maybe take another couple with me, but I would definitely be going myself, too.
"Whistler, do you have that jump yet?" My R2 unit, Whistler, squawked and tweetled an answer. "I know it's tough to run the combat systems and lay in a jump at the same time, but if you don't, we'll both be toast."
I circled and pointed my fighter towards the dark of space, and applied all the thrust I could. Good thing none of those TIEs were Interceptors, or I'd be dead for sure. I was trying to get myself some breathing room to calculate that jump, but it wasn't working. The TIEs were all over me. Suddenly, something blew up right behind me, peppering my aft shield with debris.
"X-wing, could you use a hand? This is Red Squadron, Red Leader speaking."
I activated the comm. "Nice timing, you guys. Another minute and they'd have had me."
Ten minutes later, it was all over. The Rebel X-wings had shields, while the TIEs didn't, and once the TIEs were gone, eight of the X-wings began strafing runs on the frigate until it was forced to flee into hyperspace, while the others quickly disabled and captured the shuttle.
"Red Leader, this is Corran Horn. Could you guys use another pilot?"