Beating Heart ♔ Rey

six

Chapter Six;

It was a huge relief to not be running in the sand any longer - even if they now had to fight for survival in a ship rather than on land. Then again, they faced greater odds of survival inside than out; they didn't have any chance of destroying TIE fights outside.

Hester ducked under the hatch after the brunette and Finn, heart racing at what felt like a thousand miles an hour.

"Weapons are down there!" the girl yelled. Hester glanced over at where the brunette had pointed, and Finn made a dash for the ladder leading to the guns.

"Have you flown this before?" Hester asked.

The brunette shook her head. "This ship hasn't flown in years."

Hester was alarmed. "Can it even fly at all after so long?"

"Only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Grinning despite the situation, Hester ran after the girl as they searched for the cockpit.

They arrived second later. The girl at once flung herself into the pilot's seat, and without argument Hester took the co-pilot seat. She didn't doubt the other girl's ability to fly at all.

"This thing can't be too much different to a TIE fighter, can it?" Hester quipped, as the girl glanced across at her. She located the switches for the engines and turned them on.

"Only difference is that this thing's a rust bucket," the girl said dryly as the engines came to life. Hester laughed, and the girl's lips lifted into a quick, brief-second smile. "I'd appreciate your help, too."

"No problem," Hester said, and after the brief moment of bonding the two busied themselves with getting the ship into the air.

The brunette applied a gentle pressure to the handle as she moved it carefully up, only to find it was stuck. With a scowl she jerked it forward. The handle became untucked, but the ship also lurched forward.

Hester cried out and gripped the edges of her seat as she recovered. As she did so, she looked up and saw a TIE fighter headed straight for them.

"Do you see that?" Hester cried.

"I did, and it's not good! This ship is junk -"

As thought it didn't appreciate being called junk, the ship suddenly decided to work. It flew into the air, the barren desert soon below them. Hester breathed out as that one challenge was completed, but another, more pressing one was still there: getting the TIE fighters off their trails.

The fighters had opened fire. The brunette manoeuvred the ship to avoid them. At one point, they flew over a ditch, and the TIE fighters flew past and fired at the belly off he ship.

The girl threw out her arms over the controls, activation the break, and then shoved the handle as far forward as it would go. She continued to manoeuvre the ship, teeth gritted and eyes narrated in concentration.

Hester forgot to fly for a moment as she watched the girl at work. There was no doubt she was a skilled pilot, and it was amazing how much she knew about ships when she didn't exactly see many on the desolate world of Jakku. For a few moments Hester allowed herself to forget they were in danger and wonder what the girl's story was - why she was alone, how she'd learnt to survive, how she'd picked up these skills to fly, and what exactly had happened to her to land her in this position.

Hester was jerked back to reality as they ship rolled over. From an explosion that came from behind them, she guessed they'd just rolled over to avoid a missile.

A loud series of thuds came from the room behind them, followed by a pained beep from BB-8.

"BB-8, hold on!" the girl yelled back to the droid.

They performed a series of other complex manoeuvres in midair to avoid more gunfire from the TIE fighters. The brunette glanced back toward the guns. "Aren't you ever going to shoot back?" she called to Finn.

"Are the shields up?" he yelled back.

Oops. I forgot to put the shields up.

Sending a wry smile the girl's way as she sent Hester a pointed look, Hester quickly activated the shields. "Now they are!" she yelled to Finn.

Seconds later, Finn was able to get the handle of the weapons system. As the brunette flew the ship in a circle around the incoming TIE fighters, Finn opened fire upon them as the flip had given him a clear shot. He was able to hit one of the ships, causing it to explode in a ball of flame.

"Nice shot!" Hester called back to Finn.

"I'm getting pretty good at this," he breathed, and Hester chuckled.

They didn't have much time for respite, as the TIEs flew toward them again. They sped underneath the ship and fired at its underside - Hester's heart lurched as she heard a yell from Finn.

"Are you all right?" the girl shouted, worry laced in with her words.

"I'm fine! But the gun's stuck in forward!"

Hester exhaled heavily. There was little to no chance they could expect the TIE fighter to fly in front of them. They needed to find cover, or coke up with an alternate solution.

"I know there's a second gun," Hester volunteered. "I can go use it -"

"No need! I have a plan!"

Hester frowned and glanced outside, and wondered what on earth the girl could have in mind. There was nothing out on Jakku to use for strategy!

The girl breathed in. "I can do this. I can do this," she murmured.

She looked so stressed, her forehead shining slightly with sweat, that Hester's heart went out to her. She placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder and smiled encouragingly. "I know you can," she whispered, and squeezed the girl's shoulder quickly before focusing on the controls again.

The girl sent a small smile Hester's way before she jutted the handle into forward. Hester glanced outside and her eyes widened. Ahead were several large Imperial starships - all long ago crashed and abandoned on the desert floor, relics of some long-ago lost battle.

The girl flew inside the skeleton of one of the ships. Hester's heart was in her mouth as the brunette flew them through the skeleton of the ship, hands flying over the controls and her face set hard in determination. Hester watched the girl, mesmerised. There were several near misses and times they almost crashed and avoided death by a mere centimetre, and narrowly missed gunfire from the TIE fighter, but the girl was so fearless and skilled. It was nothing like Hester had ever seen before.

"Hold on!" the brunette yelled.

"As if I wasn't already," Finn called back, sounding slightly nauseous.

"Not you! I'm setting you up a clean shot."

The girl burst free of the Imperial ship and slammed on the break, jerking the handle back, sending them spiralling high

"Kill the engines!" she cried.

Confused, and slightly scared, Hester did so. Their ship fell rapidly, and as they did so, the brunette flipped the ship on its belly - the guns pointing directly at the incoming TIE.

Finn seized the opportunity and opened fire. The last of the enemy ships exploded and crashed in the sand.

Hester let out an ecstatic yell. She and e other girl exchanged breathless grins before the girl jerked the handle again, and sent them flying up to the atmosphere of the planet - into space, and leaving Jakku far behind them.