𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 - DIN DJARIN

Chapter 27: The Crash

Din looks around, not speaking at first as he seemingly tries to think of an excuse. "Well, I'm not sure I have that hardware online," he says. You nearly facepalm at how unconvincing his words are. Din's never been a good liar.

"We can wait."

Din takes a breath, refusing to look anywhere except for the empty space ahead of him. You give his chair a squeeze, hoping it'll get him to look at you. He doesn't, instead starting to look across the dashboard again as he gives his helmet a slight shake. "Yeah, I... doesn't seem to be working."

"Seriously, Din?" you hiss in a tight-lipped whisper, causing him to finally look at you with a tilt to his helmet that says I'm trying my best, here.

"That's too bad," the pilot responds. "If we can't confirm you're not Imperial, you're gonna have to follow us to the outpost at Adelphi. They'll run your tabs."

Din panics and you can easily tell, especially as his helmet lowers. He reaches towards a certain switch on the controls. "Oh, wait—there it is. Transmitting now." As soon as Din transmits the ping, the Frog Lady wakes up with a few surprised gasps out of her sleep, causing both you and Din to turn to her with panic as Din speaks to her. "Be quiet!" he hisses, speaking out of urgency rather than annoyance.

"What's that?" the pilot questions.

"Uh, nothing!" Din exclaims with slight hestiance. You nearly let your face fall against the back of his chair. "The hypervac is drawing off the exhaust manifold." Din then looks back at the Frog Lady again, who's now since calmed down. You give her a reassuring nod, smiling as well to help her settle even more.

You sit in silence for many moments, waiting for the pilots to respond to the ping and make their exits. Instead, you hear the other pilot over the intercom. "Carson, can you switch over to channel two?" he asks.

"Copy," Carson says. They then switch off your channel.

You and Din share a nervous glance. You have a feeling you won't be getting these x-wings off your tail for quite a while. Sure enough, after a few more agonizing moments of nothing, you and Din look and see the x-wings expanding, evidence that they're planning to make some sort of a move on you.

"Was your craft in the proximity of New Republic Correctional Transport, Bothan-Five?" Carson questions, making both you and Din freeze up. Your fingers instinctively touch the place on your face where you know your scar still runs prominently. That damn prison ship.

Din simply sits in silence, as if he's contemplating his next move. You can tell by the way his gloved hands anxiously flutter on the controls that he's going to run—which prepares you to hold on when he finally does dramatically drop the Crest towards the atmosphere of the nearest planet. The Frog Lady screams with surprise and terror, causing you to look over at her with sympathy as you call out to her.

"Just hang on!" you exclaim over the soaring of the Crest, watching her nod as she grips as tightly as she can to the ship and seat.

Din's still twisting and turning the Crest in ways that even have you gripping tighter to the ship than usual when you hear Carson sound over the intercom again. "Razor Crest, stand down," he commands. "We will fire. I repeat, we will fire."

"Riduur," you call for him in a warning tone, your eyes widening as you watch him fly the Crest almost recklessly through the clouds. "You better have a plan!"

"I always do!" Din insists just before he leans forward, putting full resistance on the engines to keep the Crest from advancing forward. You're nearly forced against the back of Din's chair at that, watching as Din flexes his arms to keep the Crest from moving any farther forward. You grit your teeth, especially when Din leans back and pulls the levers with him, causing the Crest descend into a freefall.