"There are still three out there," Rey said.
"I know," I replied grimly. We had demonstrated the lethality of the shuttle's weapons; the remaining ships would be more careful to avoid them. There was no way I could take out all three. We had no choice but to run. "Bring us back to the planet, set the steepest decent angle you can."
"You want to face them in the atmosphere?" Rey asked.
"I would rather not face them at all," I said. "Their shields are not as effective to ours at absorbing the heat of reentry."
Rey nodded in understanding. Despite being faster and more maneuverable than the shuttle in deep space, the fighters had to slow down to survive the heat entering the atmosphere at high speeds.
The three Tie Fighters quickly regrouped and arced around behind us, attempting to avenge their comrade with another volley of fire. The shuttle rocked violently, but weathered the blasts. The status display for the rear shields flickered wildly before settling down.
"Why are they attacking?" Rey asked.
I frowned. "Hux is not willing to allow my capture by the Republic or Resistance," I explained.
"I thought Snoke wanted you alive?"
"He does; but his orders may have authorized my elimination if capture became impossible." I turned slightly toward her. "At least, that appears to be how Hux interpreted his orders." The General would not hesitate to use any ambiguity in his instructions as an excuse to eliminate me. His relationship with me had bordered on hostile at the best of times: now I was a traitor who had dealt him an embarrassing defeat.
"So when the Vision took up a position between us and the Finalizer…" Rey trailed off. Despite all she had seen she could not disguise her visceral reaction to the First Orders callous approach to sacrificing its officer's lives.
I looked back over my shoulder. Leia was seated in one of the jump seats, while the co-pilot stood next to her. His face was bruised, his expression a mixture of confusion and fear. "They are willing to kill us to kill you?" he asked.
"Do you doubt General Hux would hesitate to sacrifice you to eliminate what he perceived as a threat to the First Order?"
The young officer shook his head, his loyalty and enthusiasm giving way to the harsh reality of what he had seen in the service of the First Order. "I never doubted I could be ordered to my death," he said quietly. "I just thought it would be at the hands of the enemy."
His statement was punctuated by another volley of fire hitting the shields.
The shuttle began to buffet as it entered the outer bands of the atmosphere at a higher than usual speed. The forward shields took on a visible red hue as superheated plasma surrounded them. "Keep it steep," I reminded Rey. Her expression did not change and her eyes remained focused on her task, but I could sense a wave of irritation that I had felt the need to repeat the instruction.
As expected, the Ties began to reduce speed. They continued firing, but the long range shots splashed harmlessly against the shields. Finally the shuttle pulled out of their weapons range, allowing me to transfer power from the rear shields forward. This reinforcement allowed Rey to further steepen our descent, and the First Order fighters fell even farther behind.
"What were those relays you had me cross?" Rey asked as the ship continued to buffet.
"One was to a drive motor for the wing, the other was the navigational computer."
"So you had me fry the computer so we couldn't jump," Rey said, seeming almost impressed. "How did you know it would work?"
I hesitated for a moment, knowing she would find the answer unpleasant. "I once held a prisoner against the panel during his interrogation. His convulsions were rather violent and damaged the relays."
"I guess he got some satisfaction out of that," Rey suggested.
"He did not survive to see the results of his inadvertent damage," I replied succinctly, ignoring the sense of contempt I felt flowing off of Rey. "His demise may have saved your life," I pointed out.
"Your interrogation of him, not his death," Rey corrected sharply. "And we haven't seen that yet. We still need a place to land."
"The fighters are only a few minutes behind us," the co-pilot observed from behind us.
"We won't be able to outrun them for long," Leia added.
"Look for steralox," the co-pilot suggested. "It interferes with their sensors. If we can get to cover near a steralox deposit they won't be able to find us from the air."
I stared coldly at the young lieutenant for a moment. The man's willingness to help us was interesting. Despite the situation, officers tended to show reluctance to turn on the First Order. The man was either demonstrating impressive pragmatism or dubious loyalty.
Either way, he had a valid point. The Finalizer was retreating, so they would not be able to deploy ground troops. If we could avoid the fighters, we would survive. "Do it," I told Rey.
Rey began to level the shuttle a kilometer above the surface, commencing a gently right hand turn that minimized any speed loss. The forest rushing past beneath us was dense. "Weapons are operational," I said. "If we cannot find a suitable landing site, we can make one."
"That takes time," Rey replied. "The Ties will be over us less almost as soon as we land."
She was right. We would need to evacuate the shuttle and get to a location where the steralox would shield our life signs before they arrived. Every wasted moment brought the deadly fighters closer.
I could feel a sense of excitement surge through Rey. "There. Two four zero at thirty klicks."
It was strangely shaped clearing with a slight upslope. It was located next to an overgrown outcropping of rocks that showed a high steralox content.
"I'm going to try a run on landing," she said, lining the shuttle up with the clearing as if it were a runway. A pilot flying a normal landing would slow the shuttle to a hover, then orient it to the landing a site and gently touch down. Rey intended to simply fly the shuttle onto the ground at relatively high speed, eliminating any time-consuming maneuvering in her final approach.
"Maximum run-on speed is thirty klicks," the co-pilot said. "Any more than that and you'll rip off the landing struts."
For the first time in what felt like an eternity Rey smiled. "What speed do the wings rip off?"
The young Lieutenant's eyes widened slightly, but he did not reply.
Rey began reducing power, slowing the ship for a final approach. Her eyes flickered around the flight deck, glancing first at me, then Marxon's limp form, then Leia, the co-pilot, and the now unconscious pilot.
She swallowed noticeably, her stress unmistakable. "Brace."
A/N: I know this chapter is ridiculously short, but life has been tough lately in both good and bad ways. Sometimes my writing helps me relax, other times the "muse" doesn't seem to want to come amidst the craziness of everything else. But I wanted to get something posted! Hopefully it makes for some enjoyable reading!
As always, thank you for the views, faves, follows, and other support. A huge thank you for the reviews; getting notifications is a high point of the day!
