The Blood Eagle sped through the space above Nar Shadda like a beam of light slicing through the stars. Amidst a hailstorm of green lasers, the XS freighter swayed, spun, swerved and dashed about, maneuvering just barely enough to avoid being hit. The dorsal turret above the ship fired off an array of its own lasers in response, making impact and destroying one of the six pirate snub fighters pursuing the freighter.

“Nice hit Ajax.” The words of Saal Kesyk rang over the ship’s communication system. “Keep shooting like that and I might give you a raise”

“Like you would pay me anyway,” the IG-series droid responded dryly. “I could at least use a new blaster.”

“That DL-44 you’ve got is a family heirloom,” the Sith responded. “Just be glad it isn’t an E-5.”

“If I could roll my photoreceptors, that’s what I’d be doing right now,” said the droid.

The ship continued to zoom through space, with the enemy starfighters hot in pursuit. It cut to the left, and the X-wings cut with it efficiently, and without losing any space between them and the freighter. A series of beeps and boops emitted from the ship’s cockpit.

“Ajax, R3 says that the hyperdrive is only at 73%,” said Saal. “I don’t see us fixing it in time to escape in open space. There is an asteroid field ahead, I say we cut through the field to split their formation.”

“Are you insane? I don’t trust that astromech to navigate us safely through that field. I know you’re a notorious glutton for punishment, but that’s suicide.”

R3 chirped angrily in response.

“I’ll pilot, I can navigate us,” responded the Sith. “R3 can repair the hyperdrive.”

The IG unit let out a synthetic groan.

“I trust your force magic almost as much as I trust a maintenance spa ran by Jawas.”

“Well you’re going to have to trust it this time because I’m taking us straight into those asteroids.”

The ship zoomed into the asteroid field, followed by the snub fighters. They broke formation to avoid the clusters of asteroids, splitting off until only two were in direct pursuit of the Blood Eagle. Inside the cockpit, the holocommunicator on the ships dash rang, signaling that they were being hailed. Saal answer the communication, and the holocmmunicator sprang into life, projecting a replication of a tall, thin Zabrak.

“Blood Eagle, this is Garas Zyn. You have something that belongs to me.”

“I’m kind of in the middle of something Garas,” responded the Sith. He jerked the ship’s steering component, forcing the ship left to cut around a large asteroid at the last moment. The snub fighter pursuing the ship’s left flank swerved left, narrowly avoiding the asteroid and firing off a volley of lasers. The ship that was following the right was not so lucky, as it made fast impact with the asteroid in a fiery explosion.

“If you don’t return the cargo that was stolen from me,” the Zabrak continued, “my men will burn you in that asteroid field.”

“Tell you what Garas,” replied Saal. “Wire me 100,000 credits, and not only will I spare your mediocre pirates, but I’ll give return half of this spice I took from you.”

The Zabrak arched his brow, grimacing in anger. He opened his mouth to say something, then paused, and collected himself before continuing.

“You can’t honestly expect me to buy my own product back from you. Here is my counteroff-“

Saal cut the transmission and sent the Blood Eagle into a barrel roll, veering to the left as it avoided another volley from the lone pirate in pursuit. As the spin came to a stop, the ship’s dorsal turret spar out three fast shots, each cleanly hitting the pursuing fighter and conclusively blowing it to pieces.

“That’s what, three of them left?” Ajax’s vocoder buzzed and whirred at the trail of his words, in response to which he used the digits on his automated hands to thump it until the buzzing stopped, before letting out a sigh.

Almost immediately, one of the last fighters closed in from behind a small cluster of asteroids to the ship’s left, entering a narrow approach as it entered the ship’s port-side flank. Saal steered the ship to the left in an attempt to force the pursuing pirate to veer into a nearby asteroid. In response the snub fighter soared high over the asteroid before closing back into the pursuing line of the freighter. It fired off three shots that hit cleanly on the freighter’s left side, blowing rocking the ship.

“Shields are at 29%,” rang Saal’s voice over the intercom. “We are nearing the end of the asteroid field. R3, what’s the update on the hyperdrive?”

The droid beeped in response, indicating that the hyperdrive was almost ready.

Another volley of shots came from the Blood Eagle’s dorsal turret, which the snub fighter avoided. The ship’s navigational display beeped an alarm, as seven blips occurred on the grid. Saal looked through the viewport as he cleared through the rest of the asteroids, only to find a cluster of six more snub fighters and a CR 90 Corvette across the field of now open space. The three original pursuers were now all hot on the Blood Eagle’s tail, forming a triangle formation. The ship was now pinned in the middle of two lines of ships.

“R3, man the port-side turret I’ll begin priming the hyperdrive.” Saal remained calm as he began prepping the ship, pressing buttons and turning knobs with a rhythm that was almost robotic in nature.

The droid beeped and buzzed as it took over the turret. It aimed at the ships closing in from the front, setting off a rapid array of lasers which managed to hit a few of the ships. The ship maintained its course, continuing to head straight for the line of ships closing in from the front. The ships got closer, and closer, until at the last moment, the ship jerked up. As the pirates attempted to follow, two of the ships that were approaching from the rear collided into one of the opposite flanking ships, causing an explosion, the remnants of which the other six fighters zoomed upwards through. Ajax let of another volley of well placed hits, with one ship being rocked by the damage and another being destroyed.

Saal pulled down on the steering, bringing the ship back to a level plane, as the final pursuing ships leveled out relative to them.

“Hold on everyone,” shouted the Sith, and with the push of a lever, the ship’s hyperdrive activated, sending the crew flying into hyperspace. The Plagueian let out a sigh of relief.

“Took you long enough,” said Ajax. “For a moment, I fantasized about being in a maintenance spa ran by Jawas. We need to find a new line of work.”

Saal let out a light chuckle, thinking of all the money he had just made by procuring this cargo. He was blissfully unaware of the tracking device that blinked on the hull of his beloved vessel.

https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/character_sheets/21175