Star Wars: I Am a Slave ✓

Chapter 35 - Are We Really Doing This?

After the man, Rey, and the droid entered the ship, Rey hit a control and the hatch descended quickly. She raced to the right toward the cockpit, yelling at the man, "Gunner position's down there!"

While the man climbed down the ladder to the belly turret, he asked, "You ever fly this thing?"

As Rey climbed into the pilot's seat, she yelled, "No! This ship hasn't flown in years!"

The man remarked, "Great!" As the gunner's seat swiveled back-and-forth, he commented, "Whoa! I can do this, I can do this—" He adjusted the display.

Rey echoed to herself as she started the ignition sequence, flipping switches, "I can do this, I can do this—"

The old freighter lifted off as Rey punched buttons on the control panel. The tethers held her back, as the camouflage netting flew away. The ship bounced back on the ground hard and then tilted to starboard as it lifted off again. Rey yelled as the ship took some damage! She wondered if she would survive this launch, let alone this day. This is not how she thought this day was going to go.

The ship crashed back down on its starboard side, sliding across the landing strip toward Niima Outpost bazaar, or what was left of it. Come on, Baby! Hold together! thought Rey as she instinctively adjusted the controls. How did I get out of that one? Ahh, thruster up, wheel right, no left! The forward mandibles took out the top of Niima arch before straightening out and bouncing again, just missing Unkar as he came out of his booth waving his hands in anger.

At last, Rey was able to launch the ship into the atmosphere. Wow! This is nothing like the flight simulator! Those engines—they take your breath away! I think we can outrun them! As she climbed into the troposphere, her companion yelled, "Wait, stay low! Stay low!"

He grabbed the headset as Rey yelled back, "What?" She had just gotten this bucket-of-bolts off the ground; there was no way she was taking it back down again and in range of those TIE fighters.

The man explained over the headset, "Stay low! It confuses their tracking."

Well, that makes sense, thought Rey. Rey yelled back to the droid, "BB-8, hold on!" The droid tilted his cranium at her and questioned with a moan. "I'm going low." Rey pulled the freighter into an inverted dive, thrusters streaming white trails of exhaust. She pulled up within meters of the sand.

Two TIE fighters came in on her port side. Rey ducked instinctively as she maneuvered away from their blasts. BB-8 rolled around as she flipped the craft in evasive maneuvers. The TIE fighters zoomed around in a spiral dive, firing at the rear of the freighter this time.

Rey zigged and zagged again, but a blast hit the belly of the freighter. Rey yelled at the man as she tried to evade the fighters, "What are you doing back there?! Are you ever going to fire back?!"

The man retorted, "I'm working on it! Are the shields up?"

Rey stretched over to the co-pilot's position with her right arm while her left hand held the wheel steady, "Not so easy without a co-pilot!"

The man remarked, "Try sitting in this thing!"

She was able to turn on the shields and bring the freighter up barely in time to miss crashing into the sand. I've missed flying, but I'm not quite sure this is how I envisioned my next flight. The man fired the antique laser cannons at the fighters, but they evaded his red blasts quickly. One of the fighters hit the shields squarely.

The man flinched at the blast and yelled, "We need cover, quick!"

Rey yelled back as she piloted the ship across the desert, "We're about to get some!" She whispered to herself, "I hope." As she banked the freighter right, the hull creaked. She instinctively knew to bank it again to the left as the TIE fighters shot under the belly. She could feel, almost see them shoot.

She turned to the right, flying under the remaining hull of a cruiser, coming up on the port side of the Star Destroyer Inflictor. She raced past it to the aft and pulled on the levers to climb to a higher elevation. The motion caused BB-8 to circle the passageway yet again until he sent out his cables and magnets to stabilize himself.

Rey turned the freighter sideways, passing through a narrow channel of wreckage, the TIE fighters still on their tail. The man fired the cannon yet again, still missing. Rey dropped down into a valley, making everyone lose their equilibrium. The TIES followed, not giving up an inch of their pursuit. A shot hit the top of the freighter, causing smoke to stream out of the hull.

Rey continued to fly at full speed, bouncing off the sand dune as she came in close to the hull of the Inflictor. Rey pulled the levers again and banked hard left just before they would crash into the star destroyer. One TIE banked right, but the other stayed on her tail through the turn. Rey climbed again a few hundred meters up, as the TIE fired from behind. The TIE came into the sights of the canon. The man yelled, "Come on! Come on!" and then shot at its solar panel.

The TIE spun off into the desert floor as Rey yelled back, "Nice shot!"

The man commented to himself, "I'm getting pretty good at this!"

Rey thought, Oh, brother! Get the next one instead of patting yourself on the back! It's not over yet!

The other TIE was upon them now, shooting from behind. Rey continued to jink the freighter left and right, avoiding the blasts. The TIE hit the quad cannon, leaving it hanging perpendicular from the hull.

The man tried to raise the cannon with the gun controls, but they were stuck. He announced, "Uh, the cannon's stuck in forward position. I can't move it. You gotta lose him."

Rey breathed heavier, afraid it would only take one more blast for the fighter to finish them for good. Then she looked ahead and saw the remaining thruster of the Inflictor. The engine had long ago been scavenged, but she knew the tunnel well. She could lead the fighter into the tunnel and bail out, halfway through. If she were lucky, the TIE would not be able to respond in time. Flying at this speed would require super-sharp reflexes. Rey slowed her breathing, envisioning the tunnel before she got there, knowing what she had to do.

Rey reached above and hit some more switches as the TIE fighter pursued them. She banked left and flew high, coming down in a Split-S to enter the thruster tube of the Inflictor. The TIE fighter was still on her tail, firing.

Once they entered the ship, there was not a lot of room to maneuver. Rey thought to herself, This was a mistake! I can't evade him in here!

The man interjected, "Are we really doing this?!"

Rey ignored him. The last thing she needed right now was any distractions. She felt the TIE fighter about to fire and pulled her ship to the left to avoid a blaster bolt as well as a crossbeam on the ship. She pulled to the right and then banked left as she raced down the tube, avoiding the superstructure. She banked again just in time to avoid another blast of green. The blast hit the bulkhead of the star destroyer, creating a fire ball. Rey flew right through the fire ball, her shields getting cooked on the way through.

Rey grunted as she flew at her top ability, moving left-and-right to avoid the obstacles in the tunnel as well as the blaster bolts from behind. She remarked, "Oh, no," as she saw the end of the tunnel ahead. The TIE continued to fire, gaining distance on her.

Just as the TIE had gunlock on her, Rey had reached her mark. She banked hard right and came into an inverted pitchback, putting the freighter into perfect firing position. The man's shots hit their target, and Rey pushed on the levers, sending the freighter screaming across the graveyard and blasting into space. How in the world did I do that? I thought we were cooked for sure! thought Rey.

The man screamed, "Whoa!"

We survived! We survived . . . Rey looked out the cockpit at the blackness of space with the stars winking at her. Oh, no! We're in space! I've got to get back to Jakku!

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