Jedi’s Honor – 20

Luke pulls up into a wild, spinning bank away from the TIE fighters. They do not even hesitate to follow; apparently, they consider the assault shuttle more than a match for Gideon’s prospecting scow. This could mean trouble.

“Give me more power, Artoo.”

Artoo whistles, displaying a message on the vidscreen. The repulsor drives are already at 121% capacity.

“Don’t bother me with engine stress,” Luke snaps. “If we don’t move faster, we won’t have anything left to stress!”

The Droid obeys without comment. Luke silently berates himself for letting his frustration show. Artoo is programmed to object when he pushes too far; has getting angry won’t change that.

Three firey clouds burst open beneath the X-wing, bouncing it into a steeper trajectory. Luke’s lower back objects to the abuse, but he ignores the pain. He has suffered bone-shock before.

A damage report flashes across the cockpit vidscreen. The hits fused all four laser power lines. The X-wing is now completely defenseless, unless he counts his proton torpedoes – which have about as much chance of hitting a TIE fighter as a Wookiee has of passing for a Twi’lek.

Luke now has no choice – he must escape, and whether he makes it or not has come down to a speed contest between his X-wing and the TIE fighters.

The TIEs continue pounding his shields, but Luke notices they score fewer hits as the seconds pass. A check of the flight computer reveals the distance between them is growing at an ever-increasing rate – and the repulsor drives have reached 135% capacity.

Thirty seconds later, the TIEs break off and Luke plots a course for home.

Luke managed to get out alive, but that does not help the folks on 24 Tredway. Click here to return to section one and try again.