She dose.

While Dell and Yur made their way back towards the Challenger, Ric made a hard right and turned her gun towards the interceptors. “Ric, what the hell are you doing?” said Grac in an almost panicked voice.

“I’m not going to let him die,” said Ric under her breath as she hit the afterburners.

“Ric, those are Interceptors!” Grac told her, “Your nose gun isn’t going to be able to hit them, and this Y-wing isn’t going to keep up with them.”

Ric didn’t listen as she moved in closer to the Interceptors. Leveling her ship just in front of the TIE’s flight path, she fired several volleys once the ship came into range. Much to Grac’s, and admittedly Ric’s, surprise the blaster bot struck the left panel of the interceptor, tearing it apart. The ship whined as it spun out of control.

“One down,” said Ric as she trained her guns on the second TIE. Like the first one, she tried to train her shot ahead of the ship, but as she fired her second shot, the TIE was able to avoid it with a quick barrel roil. Before she or anyone else could react, the TIE focused its guns on the X-wing blasted its engines. The snub fighter exploded into molten chunks of mettle the instant it was hit.

Ric turned face turned pale as she watched the fighter burn. “Ric, move!” Grac called to her, shaking the pilot out of her trance. Looking up, Ric quickly realized that the interceptor was now heading right for her. She promptly dove down, avoiding it blaster bolts. With a loud screech, the fighter zoomed over her and prepared to turn around for another pass.

“I can’t get a lock!” Grac called out as he tried to gun down the fighter. Several more green bolts zipped past Ric’s Y-wing, a few hitting their mark and tearing through her shields. As the alarms in her cockpit began to sound, Ric tried to find some way to maneuver out of the interceptor’s sights. Then, just as she lost control of her second engine, Red five suddenly appeared in front of her. Zipping over her battered bomber, Keit trained his gun’s on the interceptor and blasted it to pieces.

“On me, Phenix Seven!” he called to her. Ric wasn’t about to argue as three more TIE fighters were closing in on them.

The Challenger was a Demolisher class Star Destroyer, a warship built almost strictly for carrying starcraft. Alongside her was a pair of blocked runners, which was being used as picket ships. Once Ric came into range of the blockade runners, the small hammered ships opened fire on the TIEs behind them. The ties were quick to break off after the picket ships made short work of six of their starships and flew back to their crippled star destroyer.

Keit was able to land on the Challenger with little effort, but Ric’s was a bit harder. With her landing ger blasted out from under her, she had to belly land the ship. Once the Y-wing hit the landing pad, half of its second engine flew off. Despite this, Ric and Grac were able to land relatively unscratched.

Once they were on board, the Challenger and the other blockade runners made the jump to hyperspace. “Glad that’s over,” said Grac as he unlocked the cockpit, “I imagine that Jack and Dell will want to have a few words with you after this?” he told Ric before slamming his hands on the cockpit. With some effort, they were able to pry it open, only for it to break off its hinges and fall onto the ground. Once they were out, Grac turned to the ship’s droid, who was looking more than a little banged up. “How are you holding up, J7?”

“J7+Ric’s flying=Pissed pants!” it exclaimed.

“Oh piss off droid,” Ric tolled him as she staged out of her ship. After prying of her helmet, she noticed that she wasn’t the only pilot that had a rough landing. Not far off from where she was, the second X-wing that survived the battle was lying on its side. A medical crew had managed to pry the pilot out of her cockpit, but they didn’t seem to be in that big of a rush to take her to sickbay.

Not far from the wreck was Keit, who was leaning against his fighter. He had dropped his helmet onto the floor and was running his hands through his dark hair. Ric’s heart sank, “I couldn’t save him,” she said softly to herself, “Just like I couldn’t save my mother…father…brother-” she was pulled out of her trance by the feeling of a firm hand on her shoulder.

Turning around, she found herself looking up at Jack, a middle-aged black man who had a very disappointed look on his face. “My office, please.”