Everything went wrong in an instant. One moment the Resistance pilots were flying back to base, the next they were surrounded by First Order ships who had come out of lightspeed.
"Incoming on the left," a transmission crackled through Ben's speaker.
"I'll take the first group," Poe veered off.
"A second round is approaching from the right," another pilot said. "I'll take them,"
Pulling up the battle strategy Ben downloaded from the Resistance earlier, he scanned to see where he would be most likely to help. There was one pilot who was being flanked by two tie-fighters, so he decided to start there.
Just as Ben was about to intercept one of the tie-fighters a blast fired, killing the pilot and reducing the x-wing to burning wreckage. With their target destroyed, the two tie-fighters turned to face Ben.
Ben gritted his teeth and turned his x-wing around. He'd fly back towards the main battle with the two tie-fighters chasing him. If he could just get closer to the other Resistance members, someone should be able to get rid of the two on his tail.
"I'm returning to the initial site of contact," Ben radioed his message to everyone on the flight team. "Would appreciate a little help when I arrive,"
"Little tied up at the moment," Poe said, "But I'll get there as soon as I can,"
Of course he was, Ben sighed. Typical of Poe to get right up and center in a battle. "Copy," Ben acknowledged. "Anyone else able to assist?"
Silence. Not even static from someone turning on their channel.
One of the tie-fighters fired a blast at Ben, clipping the side of his x-wing but only causing cosmetic damage.
"I require assistance!" Ben said, a hint of uneasiness now in his voice. "I have two ties gaining on me!" Ben knew the other Resistance members could hear him, so why weren't they responding?
Unless they didn't want to.
Ben looked out the viewport at the battle surrounding him. Each pilot was in combat mode, but he saw a handful that were nearby and were available to help.
A second blast fired, this time blowing off one of the laser canons.
"I'm down one laser canon!" Ben said. If the First Order pilots kept up at this rate, he wouldn't be able to navigate the x-wing anywhere.
"Heading your way," Poe's voice came through the speaker. "Try to hold on a few seconds more,"
"Easier said than done," Ben muttered, though he'd turned his comm off when he said it.
The x-wing bucked as one of the tie-fighters shot the cargo compartment. Ben tore his eyes to the side to find he was now neck and neck with the fighter. Before he could think of his next move, another x-wing- Poe's- flew overhead, blasting that tie-fighter to smithereens in the process. Swinging around and completing a one-eighty, Ben blasted the other tie-fighter as it took aim at Poe.
"Thanks buddy," Poe said.
"No, thank you," Ben slowly released the tight grip his left hand had on the armrest. The encounter should never have been that close of a call.
