BEYOND THE STARS → POE DAMERON

IV. First Taste of Combat

Chapter Four

Athulla, 34 ABY

Zay looked up from where she was lying on her bed in her personal quarters reading some holo news articles about what was going on in the galaxy on her datapad when she felt the Corvus come out of hyperspace.

We must have arrived at Athulla, she thought silently to herself. She then went back to reading the holo news and everything was silent for a couple of minutes until she heard the Corvus's emergency siren begin to blare throughout the ship. You've got to be kidding me! Zay got up and pressed the intercom button near the door and asked, "What's going on?"

The line was silent for a few moments then her mother's voice came over the intercom. "We've got company. Zay... look I know this is sudden, but you're ready. Meet me in the hanger." Before Zay had the time to question her mom on what she meant, the line went dead. She dashed over to her desk grabbed her red flight jacket hanging over the back of the chair and ran out of the room and down the hall toward the hanger.

When she entered the hangar her mother wasn't there yet and she assumed her mother would want her to go to her X-wing seeing as her mother had told her to meet her in the hangar. Zay quickly shrugged her flight jacket on and ran to her starfighter. As she started climbing up the ladder to reach the cockpit, she heard the hanger door open and her mother appeared.

"Good thinking Zay," her mother said. "I was going to tell you to get into your X-wing."

"What the hell is going on Mom?" Zay asked.

"Watch your language," her mother snapped. She took a breath and then continued, "We got in contact with an Athullan but before he could get very far, the signal was jammed by J-Sec. They have an EF76 Nebulon escort frigate out there in the asteroid field. You and I are going to take out that frigate and any ships they throw at us."

"Shriv isn't going with us?" Zay asked. "He's a good pilot."

"I need his experience and analysis on the Corvus so he's staying on the bridge," her mother answered. "Now get in that cockpit and get ready to fly."

"Yes ma'am," Zay said as she reached the top of the ladder and climbed into her starfighter. Once she was strapped in she fired up the engines and prepared to leave to the hanger. "What did the Athullan say exactly?" she asked her mother as she piloted her X-wing out of the hanger.

"The Athullan said J-Sec was kidnapping families," her mother replied. "They must be here for more."

"We sure are," a new voice said over the comms. "This is Leema Kai of the Opportunity, calling the Corvus. Surrender now, before this gets ugly."

"I was just about to tell you the same thing," her mother retorted.

"Heh. Gleb said you were stubborn," Kai shot back. "But hey, at least I tried. So long, Commander."

"What's the plan, Iden?" Zay heard Shriv ask.

"Can you bring the Corvus up alongside that frigate?" Iden asked.

"Not until you take out those ships," Shriv replied. "I can dodge asteroids or I can dodge lasers. I can't do both."

In the distance, Zay saw several GR-75 medium transport ships and quite a few ARC-170 and V-wing starfighters from the Clone Wars era. "I'm picking up starfighters and transports," she reported. "What should I focus on?"

"They all have to go," her mother replied. "Just follow my lead, and watch out for those asteroids."

"Don't worry, Mom," Zay assured her mother as she activated the S-foils on her X-wing into attack position. "I remember what you taught me."