The feeling kept building.
Lance tucked his cut braid away and burst into the living room.
“Move.
The Empire’s found us.”
He was already moving before the sentence finished, Grogu in one arm, pack in the other, out the door in seconds.
The squad froze mid task, startled.
Every one of them had fought beside Jedi long enough to know what it meant when one moved like that.
Danger sensed before it showed itself.
“Drop everything.
Follow me.
Now.”
Hunter’s call came instantly, and nobody hesitated, abandoning half-packed supplies where they sat and sprinting for the shuttle.
Omega clutched a bag of fruit, reluctant.
“What about everything we bought?”
“We’ll buy more later.”
Hunter scooped her up without slowing down, catching up to the rest of the squad in a few strides.
She barely had time to process what was happening.
Moments later they were aboard, engines spinning up, wings unfolding as the shuttle lifted off the ground.
Thrusters flared bright, and the ship shot skyward.
A string of alerts lit up the console almost immediately.
Tech leaned in to check.
“The whole planet’s under lockdown.
No ships allowed to leave.”
Hunter kept his eyes forward, hands steady on the controls.
“Then we’re breaking through.”
“If the Empire spots us, we’re finished either way.”
The sensor board chirped a fast warning right on cue: four or five red triangles closing in fast.
A channel forced its way open.
“Unidentified vessel.
Reduce speed and submit to Imperial inspection.
Failure to comply will result in—”
Tech cut the channel before the sentence finished.
Blaster fire hammered the deflector shields a heartbeat later, rocking the whole ship.
Hunter’s voice cut through the noise.
“We’ve got company.
Wrecker, take them out.”
“Copy that!”
Wrecker was already moving toward the rear turret, gripping the stick with a wide grin and zero visible fear.
He locked onto an Alpha class fighter and slammed both red triggers.
Bolts tore through the air and hit clean.
Boom.
A fireball bloomed in the sky, followed by a heavy blast.
Wreckage tumbled down trailing flame, nearby fighters scattering to dodge the debris.
Wrecker whooped and swept fire across the remaining ships as the shuttle punched through the clouds, breaking atmosphere.
Lance stood behind the pilot’s seat, eyes half closed, reading the currents of the Force.
Fighters this close behind them weren’t enough on their own to raise real alarm.
His eyes snapped open.
“Something’s ahead.”
At almost the same instant, a massive shadow bloomed out of the void: a Venator class Star Destroyer, over seven hundred meters of hull, hangar doors already sliding open.
A dozen ARC 170 fighters poured out in a swarm.
Blaster fire ripped across the sky.
Hunter threw the shuttle through every evasive manoeuvre he had, but the numbers were too heavy, the fire too dense to dodge completely.
Within seconds, the hull had absorbed over a dozen hits, the shield generator groaning under the strain.
“Front shields under twenty percent.”
Echo’s voice cut through the cabin, hands flying across the console, rerouting power from the rear to keep the front holding.
“Four more hits and they’re gone completely.”
Tension filled the cabin, but nobody panicked.
This wasn’t their first brush with dying today.
“Hunter, we should ditch and go back down?” Tech called out, still working the forward guns, though the enemy fighters moved too fast to land a clean hit more than once in a while.
Hunter’s expression turned grim.
Get shot down up here and no amount of toughness would save flesh and bone from a fall like that.
On the ground, at least the terrain gave them options.
He was about to answer when a calm voice cut through the noise instead.
“Let me.”
Tech turned, met Lance’s eyes, and gave up the seat without argument.
He’d already quietly looked into this young Jedi’s record, an impressive one by any measure.
Something about him inspired trust that didn’t need explaining.
Lance took the stick, held his breath, and let the Force flood through him.
Time seemed to stretch and slow, the enemy fighters, blurs a moment ago, resolving into something almost lazy in his perception.
A cluster of fighters appeared ahead, small as beans against the void.
His finger was already on the trigger.
Bolt after bolt found their mark.
Fire bloomed across the sky in rapid succession, fighters breaking apart mid flight, trailing flame on the way down.
Another wave rushed in behind the first—same result.
Wrecker stared at the radar as icons blinked out one after another, a disbelieving grin spreading across his face.
“This is insane…”
Tech pushed his glasses up, eyes darting between the display and Lance, something rare creeping into his tone.
“Hit rate reading…
one hundred percent?”
Echo kept working without pause, voice bright with adrenaline.
“Keep going, we’ve actually got a shot here.”
Hunter caught a glimpse of Lance amid the chaos, perfectly steady through all of it, something like awe flickering behind his eyes.
For a moment, the old feeling of fighting alongside a Jedi rose back up in his chest, familiar and warm.
Omega sat in her seat holding Grogu close, not fully understanding what was happening, only that something dark pressing on her chest had eased considerably.
On the bridge of the Star Destroyer, screams kept bleeding through the comm.
“I’ve been hit…
ah—”
A cold jolt ran through the captain’s chest.
In the last few seconds alone, he’d lost nearly half the fighters he’d sent out.
He swallowed hard, disbelief plain on his face.
This came from a modified shuttle?
If he hadn’t watched it happen live, he’d have sworn they were up against a full elite squadron.
His adjutant glanced over.
“Captain.
Orders?”
He didn’t dare turn around, didn’t want his crew seeing whatever was showing on his face right now.
He cleared his throat and forced his voice level.
“Launch every remaining fighter.
All batteries lock on target.
Fire at will.”
Lance cleared the last of the airspace ahead, and the shuttle finally broke free of the atmosphere.
For one brief moment, everyone breathed easier.
That relief didn’t last.
Another dozen ARC 170s appeared dead ahead, and the cruiser’s turrets lit up in the same instant, heavy fire pouring down in a solid wall.
Boom.
The shuttle couldn’t dodge in time.
The hull shuddered hard, sparks spraying from the console, smoke curling up from somewhere behind the panel.
“Shields down to three percent!”
One hit had wiped out ten percent in an instant.
“One more and we’re done.”
Echo’s hands moved almost too fast to track, funnelling every last scrap of power toward the shields, stretching what little remained as far as it would go.
It still wasn’t enough.
Tech tore open a maintenance panel below and started working repairs by hand.
At the edge of everything falling apart, Lance’s awareness of the Force sharpened to its limit, something bright flickering behind his eyes.
A gap opened up in front of him.
A narrow, fleeting path through.
“Get ready to jump.”
Hunter, veteran enough to read a Jedi’s tone without question, didn’t hesitate.
His hand found the lever, waiting.
Lance cleared the fighters directly ahead, tearing the blockade wide open in the same motion.
“Now!”
Hunter shoved the lever forward all the way.
The hyperdrive answered with a low hum, and the stars stretched into streaks of light.
The shuttle lurched once, hard, and vanished into the void.