Chapter 7

The ship was making an angry beeping noise, as they sat stunned by the table.

"We shouldn't be there yet," Ranzel said, finding his feet.

"So why have we slowed down?" Leo asked, stupidly, dropping his food and rising after the older man. Ranzel had already crossed the room, and he was going at a fast trot back up towards the control room.

Leo followed him. The main screen showed nothing more threatening than stars as they arrived, but Ranzel alerted Leo to a screen similar to the one in the shuttle, showing their little green dot, and two amber coloured dots nearby.

"Yellow means that they're unidentified," Ranzel clarified, bringing himself down into the seat. "Let's see if we can get a fix on them."

Leo sank down into the seat beside Ranzel. "Can I help?"

"Yes. The ship dropped to null to avoid those vessels, so bring her back to full speed. If they're enemies they'll try to give chase. And start the navi computer again. We need to try and get out of here."

Ranzel nodded and tapped the navi computer's activator, before bringing his hand up around the thrusters again. He brought it up to full speed quickly, and the ship lurched and then fell still again.

"Not too fast," Ranzel snapped, "Try it again." And then the Jedi span in his seat and stood up, tapping some of the buttons on the ceiling.

Leo looked back at the control and brought the thrusters driver back to its original position. This time when he moved it, he charged it up slowly. He felt the ship move underneath him, coming back up to full speed again.

"Very good! Now…" Ranzel leant over his shoulder and tapped a blue button, and a screen sprang up from within it. "They're following us, so let's have a good look at them, hmm?"

The screen that had come up had an image of two sleek, black fighters on it, and Ranzel touched it with his fingertips. They appeared in the main viewer, and he whistled. "Advanced fighters, it seems. Usually they're in squadrons, commanded by a Sith and his apprentice."

"What's different about these two?"

"Well, these fighters are new for a start. I've never seen their design before. And their weapons are unrecognised." He glanced down at the navi computer, which was still reeling. "It'll take longer if we're moving, so we'll have to hold them off until we're ready. They can't follow us if we go into light-speed."

Leo nodded and looked down at the screen which was in front of him. The ships were certainly giving chase, but they had the advantage, in that by appearing from nowhere they had given them a bit of a shock. Or did they? By coming in on this little secret, had they signed their death sentence?

The worst thing was the chilling feeling which closed around him as he looked at the two fighters. A darkness that seemed to make his flesh tingle, and his heart go cold in his chest.

Suddenly one of the ships flashed on the screen before him, and Leo realised with a sick feeling that they had begun to fire.

"Shields are up." Ranzel said, standing up to do something else again.

The ship suddenly groaned from behind them, and there was a loud hiss as the blast doors locking the cabin off came down behind them.

"Relax. That's meant to happen. It stops us being pulled out if the hull gets punctured. And yes, the same thing is protecting your mother," Ranzel remarked, almost relaxed.

Leo looked sideways at another display, this one in green again. It showed an image of the ship in a plan view. It looked a lot like a fossil Leo had seen as a child, he realised to his own wry amusement, the one which resembled a woodlouse, except that it had small wings on either side, which appeared to be mounted with weapons of some kind. He glanced up at Ranzel, the question on the edge of his tongue. Was he sure though? This wasn't a game, this was reality.

Ranzel's exclamation made him sure. "Their weapons are cutting through our shields. I don't know how…"

Leo turned in his chair and looked up at the other man. "Are there any weapons pointing backwards?"

"Yes…" Ranzel said slowly. "But you've never used an antimatter canon before."

"But if I don't learn now, I never will." Leo gave Ranzel a firm look and the Jedi nodded and moved to lean over his shoulder. He hit a button and pulled out another panel over Leo's lap, then corrected the view to show a targeting point in the centre. "If you're so sure you can fight it; then fight…I haven't any time to teach you how."

Leo nodded and turned to the controls. It couldn't be so hard. First of all there was a small screen to one side, showing him, presumably, how charged the antimatter canon was, and then there was the stick at the far right, which he automatically seized, correcting the aim of the weapon experimentally. The black fighters began to swerve, and Leo knew that the movement of the canon had alerted them.

"Don't get angry if you miss them. They've only survived this long by avoiding being hit," Ranzel said, softly, as though he was entirely unflustered by the experience. He was doing several things at once, but Leo had no interest in what he was doing at all. Instead he was bringing the canon round to train on the closer of the two ships.

He fired, pressing the button under the top of the joystick and leaning forwards. The leader dipped his right wing and the blast missed him entirely. As Ranzel prepared for another shot, the ship rolled over and stopped in a new position too low for Ranzel to hit him, and the second ship fired at the position of the canon. There was an explosion, but it seemed to miss the canon.

Leo took a moment, leaning over to study the display of the ship again. There wasn't just one canon. Another was marked in broken white underneath the ship's green marks. If he used that canon, he might be able to surprise the leader.

Glancing briefly in Ranzel's direction he could tell that the Jedi was far too busy to aid him. He looked back to the display, keeping his hand on the joystick and absently bringing the weapon to bear in the direction of the second ship and then fired a distracting shot, knowing he would miss. The moment the shot was fired he threw his chair across the cockpit and hit the button that matched the one Ranzel had used to summon up the weapons controls.

"What're you doing?" Ranzel hissed, but he didn't move to stop Leo, he was far too busy to interrupt him.

In seconds, Leo had the second panel out, but he couldn't activate the screen. It was stuck. The panel made an irritated chugging noise when he tried again.

"I can't get the screen up," he growled in Ranzel's direction, and kicked back across to the other screen. The first ship was coming closer, taking aim with its penetrating canons on something vital, he didn't doubt.

He shot at the ship, furiously, irritated, but couldn't aim low enough to catch the escaping ship.

"Forget the screen, then," Ranzel said, calmly. "You don't need it to see them. Just relax, find them with your mind's eye."

Don't need to see them, Leo cursed to himself, coming back over to the broken weapons panel and studying it for a few long moments. How could he be expected to hit something he couldn't see? Another glance at the screen opposite reminded him just how dire the situation was. He had to at least try, even if he couldn't really use this 'Force' Ranzel talked about, and had to rely on a lucky shot instead.

Relaxing, he studied what he could see before him. On the screen he wasn't using, he was using the starboard canons facing backward. The fighter had dropped in the direction of the canon which he was now sat before the controls of, but he couldn't see him because the display had malfunctioned. None the less, he should be there; and probably in fact sat right in the centre of the view screen.

He took a deep breath. If he missed, he might at least turn his attention away from the ship long enough for Ranzel to get to light speed. There were two numbers left on the navi computer. But maybe he didn't have to miss. He sucked a breath through his teeth and then ever so gently, so as not to move the canon at all, let out the bright burst of its weaponry, before looking expectantly upwards, barely daring to hope.

But he couldn't miss. His life depended on it.

Something flashed in the main view screen, and something black span away into the depths of stars, almost hitting the second fighter. Had he destroyed it? There was only one way to affirm it. He looked over at the first of the displays, the green one. One of the yellow marks had disappeared from view. It was unbelievable…a complete miracle…

The second ship was pursuing doggedly. Leo moved to the other control, but Ranzel had stopped what he had doing, and had moved to touch his hand to Leo's shoulder. Leo understood why when he looked down. The navi computer was whirling on its last number.

"Well done," Ranzel said when the ship had finally given the great lurch that announced its return to light speed, leaving the second ship floundering behind. "They were aiming to take out our engines. We'd have been dead in the water."