Star Wars: The Lord in Exile

Out of Darkness

The Phantom flew through the rocky mountains of Lothal with a Tie Fighter on their tail. Hera was piloting the ship while Sabine, Aurelian, and Ezra were in the passenger seats, clearly worried and panic-stricken. The Ultramarian looked nauseous but tried to compose himself.

"I hate flying." Aurelian groaned.

"Aurelian, don't say that. You're breaking my heart." the pilot joked.

"Hera, shouldn't we be, uh, firing back?" the Mandalorian girl asked.

"Stay calm. It's all part of the plan."

"Is getting blasted out of the sky part of the plan too? Because if it is, then the plan's going great." the younger Jedi padawan spoke sarcastically.

"Ezra, you should know better." Hera began spinning the ship around to avoid enemy fire.

Aurelian groaned and commented in an acidulous voice, "Yeah, try spinning. That's a good trick."

Sabine reached over and began trying to comfort Aurelian by rubbing his back. Hera primed the rear turret and the Phantom opened fire on the Tie Fighter, destroying the small ship in a few shots.

"There isn't a pilot in the Imperial fleet that can outrun me."

The other rebels moved close to the pilot seat and Ezra slid beside Hera. "Yeah. So, uh, how 'bout teaching me some of those high-flyin' moves?"

"Great idea." Aurelian added. "He's failing at being a Jedi so maybe he can try being a pilot."

"Shut up, you look greener than a Rodian."

"You? Fly my ship?" Hera chuckled. "I don't know, Ezra. You really think you're ready?"

More Tie Fighters advanced in front of the ship, causing everyone besides Hera to panic in fear.

"Not ready. Not ready!" the blue haired boy shouted.

The Imperial fighters opened fire and Hera used the rocky mountain terrain to her advantage to evade the shots. The Phantom returned fire as it tried escaping the incoming enemy crafts.

"Well, we've gotten ourselves into another fine mess." Sabine commented.

"I admit it's a little messier than our intel indicated."

"Yeah. That's been happening a lot lately. Where, may I ask, does this intel come from?"

Hera replied to the Mandalorian, "You may ask."

"Can we at least ask how trustworthy this intel is?" Aurelian wondered.

"It's trustworthy, Lian."

The two shared looks of disapprovement and irritation at the lack of information they were getting but put it aside until the mission was complete.

"Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt, but could we maybe focus a little more on not dying!?" Ezra shouted.

Hera turned and flew into a narrow passage of cliffs and mountain sides, turning as quickly as she could to avoid crashing.

"Hang on!"

The Phantom passed through a narrow gap and was scratched along the bottom, causing a warning light to go off. Ezra went over and inspected the damages the terminal was reading out.

" It's okay. Paint might be a little scratched, but no real damage."

"Oh, there's damage. Steering's off."

The prince of Ultramar read the terminal as well, "That's not what this says."

"It's what I say, and I know my ship."