Chapter 4

Ben and Sol had no specific mission; their only goal was to help the people of the galaxy in anyway possible. They patrolled the Outer Rim area and responded to any distress signals. Ben hoped he might possibly see Reya but she had not told him where in the Outer Rim she would be and he had no way of contacting her. For the first week after the leaving the academy things went well. Ben kept in contact with his family and there were no disruptions. They were in hyperspace, cutting across one part of the galaxy to the next, when suddenly, with a violent lurch, they were dropped out of hyperspace. Alarm klaxons rang in their ears.

"What happened?" Sol asked as he gazed at the flashing displays.

"That," Ben said pointing out the viewport. In front of them was an ancient Imperial Interdictor cruiser, though it looked like it was kept in good condition. Surrounding it were equally rare Ugly ships, ships made out of spare parts of other ships. Some had TIE fighter cockpits with Y-wing bodies while others had X-wing cockpits with TIE interceptor wings. "Pirates."

"There must be a pirate operation here," Sol said. "Makes sense with it being in the Outer Rim. Less patrol craft to find them."

Their com signal began to flash.

"It must be the pirates," Ben said. "Let's see what they have to say."
Ben flipped the speaker and a ruff, male voice began speaking.

"Attention, ship," The speaker began. "You have invaded our territory. As punishment we demand that you surrender your ship to us or be destroyed. You have five minutes to respond."

"At least their being cordial about it," Ben said. "What should we say?"

"Attention, pirate captain," Sol responded, assuming the pirate who just spoke was the commander. "Who may I say I am talking to?"

"I am Captain Krauth," The pirate captain responded. "And you now have four minutes to give us your reply." Sol shut the com off.

"Should we tell them we're Jedi?" Ben asked.

"No, but we better not keep them waiting for our answer." Sol said and turned the com back on again.

"Captain Krauth, our response is no," Sol said. "We will not give up our ship."
"Have it your way then," Krauth replied. "Remember my name, captain, it is the last one you'll ever here." The com shut off and the pirate ships began to move.

"We'll see about that," Sol said. "And we might just have some surprises for them. Ben, get to the turret." Ben headed to the turret in the top of the Saber. "Here they come."

Three X-wing Uglies came in on them, all firing their guns. Sol pulled back on the controls and turned at full speed, coming up behind the three Uglies. Ben fired the turret as Sol came around and blasted the three pirate ships.

"That was easy," Ben said. "This thing is fast. Maybe we should give the pirates a chance to leave."

"Right," Sol said and contacted the pirate captain again. "Captain Krauth, this is the captain of the Saber. We are giving you this chance to leave while you still can. We do not want to kill anymore of your men if we don't have to."

"Our force far outnumbers yours, Saber," The captain replied. "I was going to have my people bring in your ship, but now I think we will just destroy. It's a pity though, it's a really nice ship."

Two more X-wing Uglies and one Y-wing ugly came around. The two X-Uglies launched proton torpedoes at them, four in total.

"Hold on," Sol said as he turned the ship around. "This is going to get tricky."

Sol turned the Saber, the four missiles following it. Sol looped around, turning the ship upside down, and headed straight for the incoming Uglies. He aimed toward one of the X-wing Uglies and sped up. He aimed at the ship head on and at the last minuted turned down. Two of the missiles, too close and not fast enough to turn with them, plowed into the Ugly. It exploded in a fire ball. As the Saber turned Ben fired at the Y-wing Ugly and scored several hits but not enough to destroy it. It turned around and headed back for the Interdictor cruiser. Just one X-Ugly was left.

The last ship turned behind the Saber and began firing its guns at it. Sol turned the Saber but the Ugly followed in close pursuit. Sol set the ship on autopilot and increased the speed. He then looked at the weapon display for the rear turret. He deployed it and fired some shots at the Ugly. One of the bolts hit a wing off the ship and sent it spiraling into space in a shower of sparks.

"Sol, we still have those two missiles following us." Ben pointed out.

"Don't worry, I have an idea." Sol said as he directed the ship to the cruiser further up ahead.

"Sol, what are you doing?" Ben asked over the com.

"You'll see, just fire when I tell you to." The Saber sped on to the cruiser and straight past the swarm of Uglies, all firing their guns. Sol activated the frontal turret and blasted one Ugly. The rest backed away momentarily as Sol went through and then followed in hot pursuit. "Ben, fire now!" Ben fired at the incoming ships and blasted each one. Some were destroyed in a couple of shots, others merely disabled. The cruiser loomed up ahead, guns firing at the Saber. Sol weaved in and out of the laser blasts.

"Sol, be careful," Ben said as the ship rocked. "The last one almost got us."

"I know, almost there." Sol said and continued toward the cruiser. He aimed for one of the cruiser's hyperdrive disruptors and fired lasers at it. He continued on and at the last minute, as before, suddenly turned the ship away and the missiles plowed into the cruiser, disabling it for a moment. Sol then flipped the hyperdrive switches and sent the Saber back into hyperspace. Ben came down from the turret.

"That was great, Sol," Ben said. "Where'd you learn those moves?"

"Practice simulators." Sol said.

"I used those too but I never got so proficient with them." Ben said.

"I used them a lot," Sol said. "So what should we do now?"

"Where did you plot us for?" Ben asked.

"For a new course, it'll land us by what used to be Helska."

"That'll take a while," Ben said and yawned. "I think I'll go rest up."
"Sounds good," Sol said. "I will too."

Sol set the ship on autopilot and to wake him up as they neared their destination, then he and Ben went to their small rooms and rested.