Chapter 36

Shili – Tori Asteroid Belt

The Restored Triumph banked hard to the right as it entered the Tori Asteroid Belt. Rocks the size of banthas spun aimlessly throughout the ring. Each was grey and bulky and bulbous. The shorthauler behind them continued to spit its energy bolts at them, and Mark expertly piloted the Triumph's bulky frame between the bursts of energy. He twisted the yoke on instinct until he managed to place the asteroids between the frigate and the Mining Guild's ship. Deller and Prune, sitting in the belly and top cannons respectively, returned fire, but between the asteroids and the Triumph's erratic movement left them little opportunity.

Stass chewed her lip thoughtfully as they made their way into the asteroids. The entire ship was covered in the shield, which would theoretically protect them from small collisions. There were, however, the alarms screaming throughout the bridge. There was also a blinking red light on the console that seemed to be trying to communicate verbally.

Telle must have noticed her expression. "We need to recharge the shields."

"While in an asteroids field?", Mark scoffed. "I'm a good pilot, boss. Not that good."

The shield generator. That was exactly what Teethree had told Stass earlier. As he had stated, it required a regular recycling of the energy. Already, the constant attacks from the freighter had weakened it. The edges of the shield were on the cusp of being visible. Any stray asteroids would gradually wear it down, and they would need to leave the field to recharge the generator safely. Somehow, they needed to take out that Mining Guild frigate before their defences shattered.

"I can be that good.", she muttered.

Every eye in the bridge turned to stare at her. Well, except for Mark, who's eyes remained glued to the viewport. The Lieutenant raised a dubious eyebrow at her.

Stass swallowed air, "Theoretically, I could find a path through the asteroids to the other side. Once there, we could safely recharge and then land on the surface of Shili. The Togruta would protect us."

"How?", Mark asked, his eyes still focussed on the asteroids.

"I can't be at the controls for this.", she shrugged her shoulders, "You would need to follow my commands to the letter."

The crew's eyes flicked over the lieutenant. Stass watched as Telle closed her eyes, the tiny point's along her forehead rising to break the skin. Just before they made it, she opened her eyes and nodded. "Do it, Mark. Master Jedi, get us through this and you will earn my respect."

Stass nodded. If she was to do this properly, she would need to be uninterrupted. She called on the Force, calming her mind and letting it flow through her. She felt her tendrils quiver as the alertness shimmered through her. Her feet lifted off the ground, but her body didn't drop. Stass remained hovering in mid-air in the centre of the bridge. Closing her eyes, the Tholothian reached out. She needed to forget the fear and uncertainty that was clearly present throughout the ship, and focus solely on the asteroids. Was there a path through for a ship this large? A starfighter could easily find a way. Already she could see a half dozen that either her or Caloc's Delta-7 could slip through. Every Jedi needed to pass that test before being given missions alone. But for the Triumph? There needed to be something else. She threaded through the maze, her mind's eye taking her where the Force led.

"Mark, roll the ship thirty degrees to port, then descend to mark nine-three.", she ordered.

"Aye, ma'am.", Mark answered, and the ship tilted.

Stass knew it had tilted, yet she remained upright, gently drifting around once the deck had settled again. She ignored the motion and focussed on where she needed her mind to be. "Now raise the ships nose ninety degrees. We need to head straight up. Flare the engines if you need to."

"Up?", Mark asked, "Are you sure?"

"Do you want to get out of here or not, Antilles?", she asked, stretching a hand to point skyward.

Mark opened his mouth to answer, but then reconsidered. Questioning the orders of a Jedi was one thing. Escaping from perilous doom was definitely another.

"Lieutenant!", Tut called from the comms station. "We are getting a transmission from Ruping-Nine-Nine-Auresh-Besh-Three."

Lawell nodded, "Put it through!"

The speakers hissed for a second, but then Caloc's strained voice crackled across the comms, static being shot through the words as the transmission did it's best to snake between asteroids, "You.. ere? Took care of… arker. Wh… you? I… trying to… ast the freighter."

"Caloc.", Lawell pressed down the comm button. She paused, then enunciated her words as much as she could, "If you can, hit their rear deflectors. A few dozen runs might take out their shields. Then when they come after you, we can come out and attack them from the rear."

The comm squealed for a moment, then one semi-clear word, followed by static, "..cknowedg…d."

"I really hope that was 'acknowledged' and not something else.", Stass muttered quietly from where she hovered. "Mark, since we are now attacking, you need to turn go through that asteroid directly ahead. Follow the tunnel and it will lead to a vector that should lead straight above the asteroids."

Another collision rocked the ship and the alarm's blaring intensified even more. Antilles pulled the ship hard to the right, dodging a rain of rocky debris as the asteroid above them shattered under Deller's fire. More asteroids exploded as the shorthauler launched its entire loadout at them. Antilles pushed the stick back and forth through the tunnel, but the transport was slow, difficult to steer properly.

He managed to aim the ship for the vector Stass had pointed him towards, grunting with the effort of veering the ship away, "I also hope that was an 'acknowledged', because we are about to be space dust, with or without that shorthauler."

A loud boom echoed around them, and the shields flickered into the visible spectrum. For a moment, Stass believed they had been hit. An alarm sounded, but for once, it cancelled out immediately. Antilles turned his head to the left, glancing down at the radar.

"The shields are down on the shorthauler.", he grinned. Stass glanced out the side of the cockpit. Flames were dancing along the ship's hull, fed by its own oxygen supply. A boom echoed across the comms as her padawan reported.

"Shiel…s down.", Caloc spoke again, this time the signal clearer. "Commence your attack, Mark."

Technically, a small starfighter like the Delta-7 was not supposed to carry heavy ordinance. Caloc certainly should never have had access to a Tetris-3 missile launcher. But he did, thanks to a few technicians in the Jedi Temple hanger and a black market profiteer named Jonson. The missile, four cluster rockets that would take alternating paths to the same target, were launched as Caloc ducked beneath the freighter's shields, skimming across surface of the hull just long enough for the missile to launch before darting off again. Unfortunately, the targeting computer had glitched. He shouldn't have even used it – using the Force for starship targeting was so simple that the Jedi starfighters didn't usually carry one. But the Tetris-3 required a droid brain to focus the separate paths.

The malfunctioning targeting computer had sent the four missiles streaking outwards, but they had converged too early. Instead of hitting the engines or shield generator, they focussed on a small section of otherwise useless hull, striking less than a metre away from each other.

Unknown to Caloc at the time, the section they hit happened to be close to one of the fuel lines, hidden beneath the outer hull. The low-yield rockets managed to damage the hull, and they only managed to blast one of the pipes loose. The fuel began to leak from the severed pipe, floating in space behind the ship. What Caloc didn't know, what he couldn't have known, hell, what shouldn't have been possible, was that the fuel pipe fed the coolant stores for the shield reactor. Since there was no fuel, the reactor began to overheat.

But to Caloc, it simply appeared as though the ship had decided to spontaneously combust. The engine's burst into flames. He checked the data readouts before him. The Shorthauler's shields were down. Radioing to Telle, he spun his fighter away from the wrecked freighter and pulled around to survey the damage.

Lawell watched the tiny starfighter spin away from the flaming wreck, slowing just outside the asteroid field. The Jedi's path had indeed put them close to the top of the asteroids. Together, Antilles and Stass continued to guide the ship out of the field. She leant over to the microphone. "Prune. Get those guns ready. I want that ship destroyed in a single pass, understood?"

"Understood, Captain."

"Mark, get us into open space – twenty seconds ago."

"You got it.", the pilot mock-saluted.

The asteroids fell away from the viewport, dropping below their field of view as they rose out of the field. Telle yelled for the gunners to fire, and watched as the volley's light slammed into the enemy hauler. They crashed through the ship's hull, disappearing from their view. Another volley followed the first, and then a third. Without shields, explosions rumbled across the ship, bursting through the hull as it leapt towards the bridge. She closed her eyes as she tried not to think about those who would perish in the explosion. But it was time for business.

"Antilles!", she turned and pointed at the man. "Get onto engineering and have them recycle those shields. Tut, prepare everyone for our entry to the Shili spaceport. We need to refuel fast and leave. Deller, Prune, get the men ready to disembark and refresh. We will have one hour here only. Soso, I need the Senator confined to his quarters until we land, understood? Go and help Mika keep him in check. We got lucky. I want this ship ready to land again."

The men unclipped their harnesses and hurried about their business. The alarms stopped warning about their low shield levels, and instead a light chime sounded to signal their recharging cycle commencing. Telle rested her head against the console. She was about to turn away and help her men when she saw the shadowy form rise out of the smoke that emanated from the Mining Guild vessel.

Her eyes widened in astonishment. It was a ship that was far larger than the freighter. It was definitely larger than their own. Her eyes narrowed. It was a strange shape, with a long sloping nose and a set of solar fins on the rear. The hull was a patchwork of several ships. She could identify the pieces of a Ubrikkuan ship, of a Trade Federation freighter, of both Banking Clan and Commerce Guild vessels

Stass appeared behind her, crossing her arms, "I think our luck just ran out, Lieutenant Lawell. We are about to die."

Lawell rolled her eyes and wheeled back to the crew. "Sound the alarm. Get everyone into the escape pods."

But she knew it was futile. Even now she could see a trio of cannons spinning on the hull of the ship. Quietly, Stass leaned over and whispered, "We don't have time. Brace yourselves for a rough landing. I'll hold us together as best I can."

The cannons focussed on the ship, and Telle closed her eyes as red lasers streaked towards them.