III: Through the Asteroids
The effects of the main generator going down put the transport in much more danger than the previous ones. The ion cannon needed power that it couldn't get from a disabled generator, which meant the transport and its escorts had to face a fully powered Star Destroyer and its flights of TIEs. For the escort role, Dax was temporarily placed in the famed Rogue Squadron, referred to as "Rogue 13" by the transport and the 'true' Rogues, Rogue 4 and Rogue 7.
Rogue 4 spotted a wave of TIES launching from the Star Destroyer. "Rogues 7 and 13, we've got TIEs coming from starboard hangar bay. Take them out, but don't get to close to the Destroyer." Lights briefly shined near his targeting computer as they vocally acknowledged his order. 7 flew in front of him, quickly taking the lead as Dax followed him into battle. Firing two cannons at a time, three quick bursts eliminated the TIE the targeting computer designated Alpha 1. Dax, firing each cannon separately, swept his line of fire over the others, taking out Alpha 2 and 3.
"Good shot, Rogues. Return to formation." The lights winked on, when suddenly the transport took some laser fire to the port side. "Cancel that, Rogues. More hostiles at 8 o'clock." The lights winked again. 7 and 13 attacked the sudden TIE Interceptors from 12 o'clock, while 4 flew over the top of the transport and attacked from their front. The Interceptors were armored even lighter than the Fighters: all of them fell to the transport's autocannons.
"Remind me to never disrespect auto turrets again," the transport pilot joked. "Uh-oh, bombers incoming. Take them out!" A light suddenly flashed in front of them. When they looked ahead of them again, the bombers had disappeared. "C-cloaking?!"
Rogue 4 smirked. "No. We're entering the asteroid belt. One must have smashed them. Rogues, try to avoid them." He did a barrel roll to the right to avoid an asteroid as the others acknowledged.
The transport pilot warned them of the coming danger. "TIEs are coming out of all the Star Destroyer's hangars! Can you handle them?"
Rogue 7 was about to reply cockily when he looked over the incoming fighters. There had to be at least one hundred and fifty fighters and bombers. He couldn't let their numbers get to him, though; the Rebels were usually outnumbered, but even though never by this wide a margin, there were more lives than his own at stake. "Alright…Time to rock and roll."
Dax noticed a rather bunched-up group of TIEs; he quickly locked onto one in the center. Gamma 8. He fired a pair of proton torpedoes at the TIE. The first torpedo impacted with and demolished the center cockpit, sending the hexagonal wings spinning into nearby TIEs, which in turn sent them spinning into their wingmates. Dax grinned widely. "Do I get a medal for that?"
Laser bolts flurried at him. His shields dropped to less than half before he could get out of the hostiles' line of fire. He quickly flew behind an asteroid to protect himself from the lasers, did a spin to get away from it and then point directly at it, and began blasting it, just enough to get it moving towards the Star Destroyer. If he was lucky, it might take a fighter or two by surprise.
Rogue 7 swept his line of fire over the biggest group of TIEs, firing both his laser cannons and torpedoes. They returned fire; he wasn't quick enough to get out of the way. His shields failed, his astromech was damaged, and one laser cannon was destroyed. "Argh!! I've taken too much damage, I'm pulling out! Good luck!" Luckily, the damage didn't get in the way of the S-foils, and he was able to safely jump to hyperspace.
The Rebel group went farther into the asteroid field. More TIEs were crashing into asteroids; at least a third of them had been destroyed. The remaining ones were becoming more aggressive. They were intent on destroying the transport. Dax's shields recharged; he flew out from behind an asteroid and surprised a small group of TIEs. More hostiles responded, quickly taking even more out of his shields and damaging his top left wing. He hid behind more asteroids. The fighters tried to follow him, but most impacted with the asteroids. Rogue 4 blasted the ones who survived from below.
Rogue 4 spotted another TIE Bomber going over an asteroid. He gave chase, blasted everything he could out of it. A group of five interceptors suddenly appeared behind him and opened fire. Their laser blasts ripped through Rogue 4, crippling his fighter and sending what was left spiraling into the asteroid. Dax was on his own now.
TIE Interceptors swarmed around the transport. The autocannons were shredding them, but more kept coming. Dax turned back to the transport and helped defend against them. A few proton torpedoes and a lot of laser blasts, and within three minutes, the last of the interceptors were destroyed. The pilot of the transport chimed in. "We're nearing the end of the asteroid belt; we should be able to jump to hyperspace soon." Dax nodded, happy that the battle would soon be over.
Escape was not to be the fate of the transport. The Star Destroyer that had launched the TIEs was right on top of it. Its turbolaser batteries fired bolt after bolt on the transport. Its shields eventually gave way to the relentless pounding, and the laser bolts began tearing into the hull of the vessel. One laser tore through and hit an ammo cache, causing a massive explosion that ripped off the rear end. Eventually the entire vessel exploded. Dax stared in horror; he didn't see any escape pods. Jan, Nal, and countless other Rebel personnel just lost their lives.
The asteroids let up. Dax cut power to his engines. If the Imperials wanted one final kill, they could have it. The oddest thing happened, however: the TIEs turned back into the asteroid field. Dax checked his targeting computer. It took him a while to get through all the hostile targets, but he eventually found a friendly. The computer registered it as a YT-2400 Corellian Transport, named Outrider. He sighed. Whoever the hell was piloting that thing was crazy. F3 beeped. "Uh… yeah, that's where the transports are going, right? All right, set a course. Let's go." He closed the S-foil wings and allowed F3 to pilot his X-wing into hyperspace.