Critical Mass

Chapter Three

Canto Bight
Outer Rim Territories

Blue eyes, wide and frightened, stared at her. The woman reached for the kitchen drawer, producing a small blaster pistol.

"Mama..."

She was scared. Why was she so scared?

The woman grasped her shoulders. "Trin, you need to listen to me. I need you to run. Go out your window and into the field, and don't stop. Don't stop running no matter what."

She nodded and fled the room, running down the hall to where her bedroom was. Her small feet almost tripped on a discarded toy.

Pushing her door open, she found a stormtrooper already in her room, with another crawling through her window.

She screamed.

"Get away from her!"

The stormtrooper fell, pushed back by some unseen force. The woman fired a single shot in the direction of the other trooper before he fired through the window and struck her in the chest.

And then she fell.

"Mama!"

With her dying breath, the woman reached out to her.

"Trin...run."

Demo bolted for the landing ramp, mind no longer in control. She was motivated purely by survival instinct, and at that moment it was telling her that if she did not leave the planet, she would die.

Just as she reached the opening, Gunner appeared, Dexshi's cowering assistant behind him. His blaster was already drawn, but his eyes focused on the one in her hands.

He lifted the blaster slightly.

"Commander?"

She hesitated.

Her hand slammed against the lift button, retracting the ramp. Gunner had plenty of time to enter the ship, yet all he did was stare at her, too shocked to react. When the Aqualish made a move to get onboard, Demo pointed her blaster at them. In reply, Gunner finally leveled his on her. He had plenty of opportunity, and they both knew he could shoot her well before she had the chance – he could have ended the madness right there and then.

Do it, Gunner.

Do it.

Shoot me.

Gunner, however, did nothing, and then he was gone.

The ramp had closed.

Demo took a breath.

Don't move.

Don't move.

Do. Not. Move.

She ran to the cockpit, mind disengaging from everything. Her hands ran up and down the control panel of their own accord, quickly adjusting the instruments of the ship and rapidly going through all the pre-flight checks until the engine roared to life.

Only then did a single blaster bolt bounce off the exterior.

Demo looked outside. Had the pane of transparisteel not been there, Gunner would have certainly hit her head. He was watching her, snapped from his shock, still confused but with a growing anger. It was a warning; it demanded she stop before she did any more damage.

But she was no longer in control. Something else was, and that something else launched the ship and took it out of the atmosphere. That something had her fly directly past the two TIEs in orbit, even as they attempted to make contact. That something put coordinates into the nav computer and jumped her to lightspeed.