Star Wars - Black Bounty

Chapter 1

                 

Reylan Mollek's ship sped through space just above Kodon II. Mulran Moss, an Aqualish criminal who was classed as a Red bounty, was chasing him. Reylan now knew that it was a mistake accepting the bounty.

"I believe we may have bitten off more than we can chew" said R2-R0, a golden astromech droid who Reylan had given the vocal programming of a protocol droid.

"Yeah thanks for reminding me R0!" Reylan panted, pulling on the controls of his ship, pressing buttons and turning dials.

"Well, my honesty level is at 100%" R0 bleeped.

"Yeah? Well make that 90%!" Reylan yelled.

"Honesty level set at 90%"

"Fire the rear blasters!" Reylan said. Lasers shot out of the back of Reylan's ship, narrowly missing Mulran's ship.

"Missed" R0 simply said.

"Well keep firing!" Reylan spluttered. After several more lasers fired, there was a hit.

"We hit him! We caused some damage to his left landing gear!" R0 said happily.

"Landing gear? Oh yes, what a critical hit!" Reylan yelled sarcastically. His ship shaking violently as Mulran's blasters narrowly missed the ship. Then suddenly, there was a loud bang. "There goes an engine!" R0 muttered.

"Can you repair it?" Reylan yelled.

"I'll see what I can do" R0 said, beginning to leave the cockpit. Within seconds, R0 was on the side of the ship doing his best to repair the engine. There were a few more bangs as the ship was hit with blast after blast.

"We are not going to crash... We are not going to crash..." Reylan muttered to himself, flicking a few more switches.

"Reylan..." R0 began, his voice coming through the console.

"Not now!"

"Reylan you really need to-"

"Not now R0!"

"Reylan! Listen to me! Mulran has fired missiles!" R0 yelled.

"I'll shake them off, don't panic!" Reylan shouted, now seriously regretting taking this bounty. He pulled the control wheel all the way to the left, and the ship began to spin rapidly. R2-R0 let out a scream. The ship's sensor told him that the missiles had lost their lock on his ship. He turned the control wheel back to the middle, and ship stopped spinning.

"Reylan, we've entered Kodon VI's atmosphere!" R0 said.

"Okay, now we can panic! We need to slow down. Opening all flaps and drag fins!" Reylan announced, flicking some more switches. The ship began to slow down, but not slow enough. The ship was burning up, crashing to the surface of Kodon II like a meteorite. The glass in the cockpit began to crack as the ship set on fire. Panelling began to peel away from the outside of the ship, exposing the vulnerable wires and electronics.

"The gravity generator is malfunctioning!" R0 shouted. The effect was immediate. Instead of a normal gravity, where Reylan could stand still comfortably, the gravity was strong. He felt himself sinking into the chair of the cockpit under the force pushing down on him. Then, the gravity was weak, and Reylan saw his shaggy black hair floating around on his head. He even began hovering a few inches above his chair. He would have floated away if it wasn't for the buckles holding him down. They were now beneath the clouds, and Reylan could see dense forest beneath them, approaching fast; the ship was moving at an incredible speed.

"Reylan! I'm having trouble staying attached to the ship over here!" R0 shouted.

"Just hold on!"

"I'm a droid, incapable of holding-"

"JUST DO IT!" Reylan screamed.

"I'm sorry but this damage is too extensive! We can't stay in the air!" R0 responded. Reylan hesitated, before getting up and running to the escape pods, doing his best to ignore the fluctuating and random gravity changes. At one point, he was forced straight into the ceiling, and then began softly floating away from it weightlessly.

"Fix this gravity R0!" he yelled. After a few painful moments the gravity seemed to become more bearable – but not perfect.

"If you're looking for an escape pod, bad luck" R0 said, his voice coming in from an earpiece in Reylan's ear.

"Why?" Reylan asked.

"You sold them to a Quarren arms dealer, remember?" R0 asked.

"What?! When?!" Reylan asked.

"Well... You were drunk..." R0 muttered.

"Great! Now what?" Reylan asked, holding onto the wall; the ship was shaking very violently.

"I can divert some power to the cargo door! Get as close to the ground as possible and jump out... But your chances of surviving that are almost zero!"

"Well my chances of surviving if I just stay in here are EXACTLY zero!" Reylan yelled back.

"Oh! More good news! Mulran Moss is leaving, with a barely damaged ship! We lost him Reylan..."

"R0 please just stop giving me bad news! I'm farkled enough as it is!" Reylan shouted.

"Watch your language!" R0 proclaimed sarcastically.

"Sorry!" Reylan smiled. R0 continued.

"Thank you. Anyway, I've got good and bad news! The good news is that I can open the hanger door for you now, so be prepared to jump!"

"Well do it!" Reylan shouted. The hanger door opened, and cold air rushed through the ship. The forest was a blur, as the ship was still spinning.

"And the bad news?"

"I'm can't stay attached any longer. I think I'm going to-" R0 went silent.

"R0...?R0?!" Reylan shouted. He ran over to the cracking cockpit, and saw the blur ofan astromech droid falling to the ground. R2-R0, Reylan's companion through somany adventures. Reylan took a moment. The forest was dangerously close now. Itwas time. He waited a few more seconds, turned, and sprinted towards the hangerdoor.