4.

As the three fugitives broke free of the atmosphere, one of the large Trade Federation ships rapidly closed on their position, firing intense, superheated laser blasts in their direction. Their small ship rocked, jarred and jumped from the heavy barrage of fire careening off of the rapidly weakening forward deflectors.

"Don't worry!" their mysterious benefactor shouted over the noise of the blasts. "I'll have us out of here in a second!" He slammed the controls to the left and cut across the line of fire and into a parallel but opposite course from the immense ship. It would take the enormous ship several seconds now to retarget the smaller craft, hopefully allowing just enough time to make their escape.

"Where are we going exactly?" Breha yelled back from cramped fuselage seats located just behind the cockpit. She could see that their pilot was hurriedly keying coordinates into the NAV computer, trying to make the jump to hyperspace before the next bombardment tore the ship apart. "We need to get to the Senate chambers on Coruscant, I need to inform the Senate of what has happened here!"

"I have a very strong feeling that they already know, highness" said the man surreptitiously, raising his eyebrows. He began pushing the hyperspace thruster controls forward, and Breha could feel the ship lurch forward, accelerating to light speed. "We would be better off finding some immediate assistance and guidance, and I have just the…"

A massive explosion hit the ship. Jan and Breha were thrown from their seats as the entire cabin filled with smoke. After the initial explosion, Breha heard a loud screech of ripping metal, a sudden rush of air, and then a large crash. Warning lights flashed from every control panel while flame retardant automatically shot from the front and back corners of the cabin. Breha felt something roll past her and heard a series of beeps and whistles before she fell unconscious.

...

Soon the smoke began to clear and Breha woke up, slowly opening her eyes. Sore and disoriented, the young princess was able to prop herself up against the seats. She saw Jan lying in a heap beside some canisters which had dislodged from the wall of the ship in the explosion. Carefully, she made her way to him, crawling on her hands and knees, coughing to try to clear the smoke from her lungs. She removed some of the canisters from around him, and checked to see if he was breathing. He was unconscious, but he was alive and had no outward signs of any serious injuries. His chest was moving slowly and she could hear his heart beating when she pressed her ear against him.

She could see that the emergency bulkhead between the cockpit and cabin had closed, and there was a small astromech droid right in front of it, interfacing with the main terminal. The droid turned its primary optical sensor towards her, and let out a long, mournful, whine.

"Hello," she said cautiously, still coughing. "Did you turn on the cabin exhaust for us?"

He let out a single polyphonic chirp, and continued to look at her.

"What about your friend, I mean, your master? Is he ok?" She could see that there was a very small, round window in the bulkhead, but she could see nothing but blackness through it.

The blue and white droid turned his shining sensor dome slowly to the right, then back to the left, and let out another deep whine.

Breha stood up slowly and made her way to the small window and looked through. The cockpit was gone, totally blown away by the Federation ship. The stars appeared blurred in soft lines, which meant that they were still in hyperspace and had successfully made their escape, or at least two of them had.

She sat back down between Jan and the droid, and checked again to make sure that Jan was still breathing. She wondered what was occurring now back on Alderaan, what Viceroy Gunray and the Federation were really up to. If only Bail hadn't been in the office this morning, if the Chancellor had not been visiting, maybe they could have escaped together. Now, she felt enormously alone. Her only companion was the droid that had likely saved her from being blown into space or captured by the Federation. Somehow, this little astromech had managed to keep the ship together, and had kept them on course. The only problem was; she didn't know what course they were on. Perhaps he was also damaged, and was leading them nowhere…

"You're an R2 unit, aren't you?" Breha asked, trying to gauge the little droid's aptitude. "Are you able to control the ship from that panel?" Near the droid's base, she noticed the little white com device that the droid's owner had used to communicate with it laying in the pile of debris. She picked it up and put it in a pocket of her robe. Near where the com unit had been she also found another cylindrical device. It was made of a silvery metal, about two hand lengths long, and seemed to have black grips for easy handling. She figured it must be some sort of spanner, or other tool. Not sure if it was dangerous or not, she decided to leave it where it was.

The astromech let out a series of squawks, and then a high rising beep, almost as if he were trying to ask her a question in return.

"I'm Breha," She said, pleased that she was able to keep up the conversation. Then she motioned towards Lieutenant Dodanna, "and this is Jan. I think he's ok, I hope he wakes up soon."

The R2 unit looked back at the bulkhead, trying his best to peer out of the small window again, and then turned back to the two unlikely passengers. He made no further sounds, but seemed to slump down a bit towards the floor.

"I know," Breha breathed and looked towards the wall where the cockpit had been previously. "I'm sorry, R2."