"Hydrospanner."
There was a clunking, and Dash felt the metal on his palm. He gripped it hard and continued working.
"Any success up there?" He called up.
"Not exactly. One of the lights flashed again, but not the same one. You're probably getting closer, though".
He blew an annoyed sigh. They were working on this blasted thing for hours, with no success. It was taking much longer than he'd liked, and he would have liked to have had this thing flying off this planet at least two days ago.
Not that he was concerned about Fett finding him again. As soon as they had grounded, he had camouflaged the top of the Outrider with a camo-net he had found on Dantooine, during one of his jobs. With it, from above the ship would look just like the surrounding canopy of trees, which was very convenient for him in case anything happened. It was expensive, but Dash found the heavy cost paying off at the moment.
Still, the sooner they were off, the better. He'd rather have the Outrider flying around than gathering dust in the middle of, quite literally, a cosmic nowhere.
He jammed the hydrospanner into one of the rotary drives and pushed upwards counter-clockwise. Then the machine began to hum, but it died down almost instantly.
"Damnit", he groaned, and pulled out from the jungle of wires and gears under the cockpit controls. "Leebo, get me a head lamp".
The droid nodded, reached into the toolkit, and lobbed at Dash, who barely caught it in his hand.
"Nice catch, sir" Leebo commented.
"Gee, thanks" Dash said, attaching the light source to his head. He went inside and turned it back on. Let's get this over with.
It took him a few minutes, but he found the solution. "Fusion-cutter and welder".
With both those tools, he got back to the mess in front of him. Two minutes later, he rotated the hydrospanner again, and the controls finally sprung to life.
"Finally!" He hooted gleefully, and rolled out from under the panel to stand up "Scanners are back up and running".
"Excellent" Leebo responded in kind. "One step closer to getting out of here".
"You said it, Leebo" Dash said. "Can't wait 'till that planet's in the rearview." He stretched, hearing his back crick in the process. "I'm gonna get some grub, I'm starving".
"Roger that, sir" Leebo answered. "I'll stay here to check up on your newest success, hopefully this time it'll last, unlike the repulsorlift engines".
"Oh, don't even remind me" Dash complained. It had taken them the better part of a day and a half to get it fixed, and even then it was operating at minimum level efficiency, so Dash just decided to continue it later and get most of the other systems fixed up until then. "I'll be right back".
He strolled out into the corridor towards the main hold, but had barely just reached it when Leebo called back.
"Sir, come back here, there's something you need to see about the scanner".
Dash shook his head. He must be joking.
"What is it now?" he grumbled as he walked in. "Is this gonna malfunction too, or-"
"No, sir" Leebo cut him off, "but frankly, I wish it had. Take a look".
Something didn't seem right with his voice, and when Dash headed to the scanner display, he understood why. The screen was filled with little green dots that looked like Hs, flying in formation.
"I know these signals", Dash said, his voice filled with disbelief. "TIEs".
"TIEs indeed", Leebo said, "specifically of the fighter kind, although there are a few bombers around too. So much for our escape. The Imperials are on this planet".
"No, no" Dash waved it away. "There are too many TIEs right now in this area to qualify for them actually being here. Besides, they'd have noticed us." He paused. "It's an invasion".
"An invasion?" Leebo questioned. "Now what would the Empire be doing invading? According to recent news, they were supposed to cease advances. The war's officially ended. What are they up to?"
"Well, you know the Empire" Dash said bitterly. "Make a deal, then find a loophole to break it, and then break it anyways regardless of what people say. Guess they decided to take one more prize before the Republic wised up".
He took a deep breath, and looked outside the window. He couldn't see them now, but he just knew that, out there in the sky, there was an armada of Imperial forces stationed near the planet, probably even blockading it. His escape route was blocked.
His gaze descended to the forest. If the Imperials were invading, then they'd need to land ground troops. Sure, the forest was the ideal place to hide, especially if he'd camouflaged himself. But all Dash had seen since he'd arrived was at least half a square mile of the surroundings. He needed to get a better idea of what was nearby.
"I'm heading out there" he said, and walked out the cockpit.
It took Leebo a second to register what he had said. "Out there?" he asked, following him. "You mean, specifically, out into a dark forest of which we know nothing about, while the Imperials are descending on the planet with everything they've got? You didn't strike me as suicidal, sir".
"It's not suicide, Leebo" Dash said, brushing aside the sarcasm in his voice as he holstered his blaster. "It's recon. I'm just heading out there to see what our surroundings are like. It just won't do for us to stay in the dark regarding where we are in the midst of an invasion. I'd rather be stuck in the ship knowing a bit more about what's around us than not. It won't take long."
"Really?" Leebo said. "And supposed the Imperials located you, or worse, this ship? What would you do?"
He patted his gun. "What I always do".
Leebo's silence told him what he already knew. He didn't like it, but Dash was going ahead with it anyway, whether or not his robotic companion liked it.
"Keep the comlink cut" he told him as he clicked his armored vest on. "That way, the Imperials won't be able to trace you here. Keep the ship on minimal power as well, we'll keep it that way until we finish repairs. If I'm not back in an hour…"
There was a short pause.
"Well, not like I can leave anyway, with or without you." Leebo commented. "Just don't do anything foolish".
"Don't worry" Dash reassured him. "I'll be fine. Again, I won't take long". He hit the button for the ramp, which descended to the ground with a soft thud. As soon as it landed, he headed out.
The dry, cold interior of the Outrider contrasted immensely with the warm, humid climate of the forest, and it took Dash a few seconds to adjust to the change. Far off, very faint but distinct, he could hear the sounds of the TIE starfighters as they zoomed through the night sky. There was another whirring and clunking sound, and when Dash turned, he saw the ramp lift itself up and lock itself back into the ship.
All right, he thought. Here we go.
He strode forwards into the clearing ahead of him between the trees, taking care to push aside the low-hanging tree branches. After a few minutes, with the Outrider still in sight through the foliage, Dash looked up through the tree canopy.
Up above him, the engines of the Imperial starfighters still emanated, growing quieter then louder still, as another flight flew by. On the ground, though, the forest was as silent as ever, giving the overall atmosphere an almost eerie feel. Dash certainly wasn't afraid of a forest – he'd been through worse – but he had to admit that the forest was making the hairs on the back of his neck prickle up a bit.
Shaking his head to clear his mind of tension, he proceeded forward, checking to make sure no one was watching, occasionally glancing up and seeing another TIE squadron circle around. After several minutes, where he was sure he had gone far enough, he stopped for a minute to rest. He had made a mental note of everything around him. The stream, a misshapen rock, what looked to be a fallen tree, and-
He heard the rustling at the last second. His hand jumped to his blaster and he turned on the spot, aiming his gun at the bushes behind him as it rustled and opened up.
But it was too late, and whatever was coming for him had tackled him.
Dash grunted from the force of the impact and was pushed back, but he deftly spun on the ground and leapt up, blaster at the ready.
Whatever had hit him, though, all of a sudden didn't seem interested in a fight. It curled up into a frightened ball and began to squeak.
"Oh my goodness, oh please, oh please, don't hurt me, don't do anything, please oh please!"
Dash blinked once, then again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Apparently, what had collided with him was a strange species of…something. Whatever it was, it was half as small as he was, had yellow skin and pink hair, and was currently shivering with stark terror. He lifted the pistol away and raised his hand.
"Woah there, calm down, all right? I won't do anything".
She – judging from the voice, it had to be a she – didn't hear him, though. She just kept on begging covering her face with what appeared to be tiny hooves.
"Please, don't hurt me, I'm so scared, I don't know what's going on, I-"
"Hey, hey, HEY!" Dash's voice escalated, and the thing finally shut up, but stared up at him through the pink bushy hair with one fearful eye.
"Okay" he said, gesturing towards her in a calming way. "Calm down, take a deep breath, and explain to me what's going on".
She didn't answer, though, and at his request she merely buried her face in her hooves again and began to slowly but clearly weep in anxiety. He blew a frustrated sigh. While he was more than relieved that she wasn't an Imperial of any kind (by the looks of it), this was becoming tedious. He needed to find out more about what was going on, and she wasn't helping.
"Look" he said, a lot calmer than before, "I know I probably look like a scary kind of person, but I promise you, I won't harm you." He holstered the gun as a sign of goodwill. Hopefully, she'll get it. He got down on one knee so that he was a bit closer to her, and spoke again. "Now, tell me, what is going on? What are you running away from?"
It took her a few more seconds, but she must have heard him because her breathing gradually steadied and she lifted her head, staring at Dash's eyes with her own bloodshot, tear-filled, cyan-colored ones.
"I-i-it happened all of a-a sudden" she sniffled, stammering her words out with effort. "I was in m-my home, just getting ready f-for bed, and then all of a sudden…" Her words trailed off and she trembled.
"You were attacked" Dash finished for her.
"Not just me!" Fluttershy said worriedly. "My home, my village, my friends. We were attacked by Changelings out of n-nowhere, but there were also weird metal creatures with them. They stood on two legs, and were all white, and..." Her voice slowly began to break up again as she tried to recall the events "W-we tried to fight back, b-but they were too strong for us. I wanted to run and see i-i-if anypony could help us, but...but…" She buried her head into her…hooves?...and began to weep again.
Dash scoffed, and stood up. Apparently, the Imperials had already overrun this planet as soon as they landed. Judging from whatever this thing was, they stood no fighting chance. They didn't seem like the kind to fight, anyway. Just what kind of help was she looking for out here, anyway? Not like anyone could be of any assistance.
He had half a mind to turn back, fix the Outrider, and get out of here before the Imperials began searching the forests. He didn't have the firepower to take on the Imperial armies by himself, much less a whole fleet, and even if he did, it wasn't his business. He wasn't going to get himself killed for the sake of a planet that had already fallen.
As he turned to leave, though, something tingled at the back of his mind, and he looked back at the sobbing heap on the ground. It was a long time since he felt that feeling. Almost since Coruscant, since Xizor's Palace. Since Carida, when he was thrown out of the Academy.
Since when Stanton was killed.
"Hey," he called out. "I didn't catch your name".
The little creature raised her head, her face wet with tears. "F-F-Fluttershy" she whimpered.
"Fluttershy, huh?" He gestured to her with his head. "Where's this village of yours?"