Finally, all that starfighter stuff is done. Ughhh the research was so painful and honestly it's harder to write than you may think. Anyways, here's the finished product, enjoy!
"'Soka, I need a bit of help here!" y/n called through the comms as the two remaining fighters began to close in on him.
"You know, I almost sympathise with them for going after you. Sometimes you're so annoying it would be awesome if you got blown up," she muttered, shaking her head whilst rolling towards his fighter.
She was referencing what had happened earlier, when he was able to make her taste her own medicine by manipulating an insult. Ahsoka had called him loud for cursing so much. y/n had replied with, "What does that make you, Stripey?"
Thoroughly irritated, she had begun to peel away from being his wingmate, abandoning the post that she was supposed to take. Each fighter was paired with another, that way both would be able to alternate the positions of leader and wingman as the situation dictated. One would attack, whilst the other served as backup.
However, once the battle progressed several Republican fighters had been shot down and the pairs would have to sort themselves back together. Instead of sticking with y/n, she chose instead to support Kickback, a clone from the 501st that had been under her leadership since the blockade on Ryloth near the beginning of the Wars.
"Ahsoka I've got three on my tail now!" he called in an alarmed tone.
"Be patient, n/n," she replied leisurely, threading through the battlefield and feigning attacks at several droids so the clone pilots on the defensive could disengage.
"Outlaw, what's your status?"
"Sorry sir, I can't help you right now. I've got my sights on a nasty bugger of a tri-fighter...hold on, where'd it go?"
"Reverse throttle hop!" y/n said, eyes flickering back and forth between Ahsoka's fighter, the droids chasing him, and Outlaw's situation. "Quick, break starboard now or it'll snuff you!"
"I can't see it!"
"Outlaw, break now!" Ahsoka cut in, veering towards the soldier. "Break starboard now!"
Too late, the clone didn't react fast enough and a volley of laser bolts hit the fighter. Instantaneously a huge explosion erupted, and the droid successfully disengaged from the commitment, turning its sights on the Togruta's fighter instead.
"Look what you've done now," y/n scowled at the wreckage of the clone's ship.
"What? Me?!" Ahsoka retorted. "You're the one who's got three vultures on your tail!"
"Exactly!" There was a period of silence as he spun through the battlefield, jinking and rolling in every direction in an attempt to shake off the attackers. "You know," he began, "Perhaps they're chasing me not because they want to kill me. Maybe it's cos I have a personality that is simply irresistible and I have one of the most good looking faces in the galaxy."
"Not the time for this, Cap," Runner grunted to his leader.
"How in the Force are you a Jedi?" Ahsoka shook her head, almost angrily. She grudgingly agreed, however, that he was handsome, then immediately mentally slapped herself for thinking that and losing focus.
"Get the nearest clankers off your tails, now!" y/n ordered, taking the clone's comment and the Togruta's irritation as a time to refocus. He sensed a laser bolt about to hit him and spun the fighter, rolling up and portside, but came right into the path of another projectile. "Kriff, I'm hit! We're outnumbered here and lost too many men. Make a retreat as soon as possible. Abandon mission and regroup back at the Venators."
His fighter was lurching slightly to one side, speed slowed down drastically with the damage.
"n/n, fly at me and we'll play a slip-jaws!" Ahsoka asserted, manoeuvring her fighter in the direction of his, whilst flying in the corkscrew avoid. Gyrating swiftly, the spiral movement allowed her to evade the droid's fire whilst maintaining her direction.
"You sure it's going to work?" he said unsurely, narrowing his eyes in concentration. "You know, with one of my thrusters down?"
Ahsoka smirked slightly. "You've always been dying to prove how apparently amazing you are, so this may just be the opportunity."
"This is a challenge then, huh?" he replied as their two crafts steadily drew nearer. She could see the outline of his form and make out the lopsided grin on his face.
"Ready?"
"I was born ready, 'Soka."
Slip-jaws were incredibly dangerous and required an extraordinary amount of precision. The tactic could only be performed by Force sensitive beings or droids.
The two fighters drew nearer, the Jedi unconsciously adjusting their speed or direction to time the manoeuvre exactly right. Closer, closer, closer, they were at a forty five degree angle to each other now, almost about to crash.
At the last second y/n zoomed underneath Ahsoka's fighter, the shape of her Eta-2 cockpit fitting almost perfectly in the gap between the airfoils of his craft, like a lock sliding into a keyhole. Passing through each other's path, they continued on their route without a disruption. Behind them, the two of the pursuing attackers smashed into each other as the Jedi crossed trails.
Luckily the two remaining droids that had been chasing y/n were overshooting with his frantic, jerking movements. As soon as the explosion erupted, he power-pivoted and turned the nose of his fighter back to the Venators, disengaging from the vultures that were left confused.
"Retreat now, Nock! Crest and Flame, get your butts back up there!" he commanded, throwing a glance over his shoulder. His fighter was juddering slightly, and with one hand he tried to reset the controls whilst telling Q7 what to do.
Dodging a stray laser bolt, Ahsoka sped back to the main cruiser, the remaining fighters right behind her. y/n, however, was lagging behind due to the damage of his thruster. The droids circled around in the battlefield, deciding whether to pursue. Ultimately, they decided to chase, but their sights were only on the vulnerable fighter.
"Kriffing banthas!" he sensed a laser bolt headed his way and he banked portside. Glancing behind him, y/n fortunately saw only one vulture in hot pursuit, but the bad news was that it was gaining steadily on him.
Ahsoka and the clones were already far ahead, only a few hundred metres to go to reach the hangar.
"What's taking you so long, slowpoke?" she asked through the comms.
"Just the usual drudgery of trying to stay alive with a vulture trying to incinerate my butt," he replied, gritting his teeth as he tried to gain more control of his fighter. "Aw come on Q7, haven't you had any luck with the fuel lines?"
The droid beeped and buzzed, the spherical head spinning in a full circle.
"What?! You coulda told me sooner that the reactor's been hit!"
"Looks like you're in a bit of a pickle, aren't you, n/n?" Ahsoka said with a smirk, motioning for the clones to enter the hangar as she turned her fighter around.
"I've got this one, I think," he muttered, cricking his neck. Closing his eyes, he allowed the Force to guide him, loosening his grip on the controls. Pushing everything out of his head, y/n let his hands move on their own, evading the laser bolts through sensing them.
The time was right. The vulture was right behind him, one more millisecond and he would have been shot square in the tail. Pushing the throttle forward with one hand, y/n then twisted the control stick. Losing all forward momentum, the fighter loop rolled in an arbitrary direction, out of the way of the pursuing droid.
However, with the unbalanced propulsion from only one working thruster, the craft gyrated out of control, spinning rapidly but moving slowly.
The vulture overshot and was forced to make a quick power pivot to relocate y/n's ship, but by then he was having trouble getting the buckling vessel in check.
"Q7 disengage the thruster!" he yelled, shutting his eyes as the fighter whirled around and around. His body lurched forwards as the astromech did as it was told, and y/n's head slammed into the controls.
"Kriff," he grunted, rubbing his head and opening his eyes to try to get his bearings.
"n/n, watch out!" Ahsoka yelled out, firing at the vulture but it was futile from the distance.
A shudder passed through his fighter as a laser bolt hit home. Immediately smoke began rising up from the cockpit and Q7 started beeping rapidly in alarm.
Everything was still spinning, but all of a sudden the breath was ripped out from his lungs. y/n gasped, but only was successful in losing more air and knocking his head on the inside of the fighter.
"y/n. y/n!" Ahsoka's yells increased in alarm as she watched the droid swoop in for another attack. Of course they were called vultures, circling around and waiting for their prey to die and to feast.
"It's fine, I've got life support in the flight suit," he replied after managing to pull his helmet over his head, the oxygen entering his lungs again from the supply provided. Wincing, pain flooded his head from the two severe bumps he had received.
By now the fighter had stabilised enough for y/n to retake control, but it had been damaged too much, rendering it unable to fly. The triggers and the laser cannons, though, were still working.
Slowing down, the craft spun steadily around, until it had pivoted around and the vulture came into his sight. The droid was still wary though, looping and rolling through space in order to carefully avoid any possible shots.
y/n's eyes flickered to the growing shape of Ahsoka's fighter.
"Get closer, I've diverted its attention for the meantime. You've got a chance with a shot."
"It's too far," she responded, narrowing her eyes. "I can't get there in time before it obliterates you to pieces."
"Happy day for you, then," he rolled his eyes. "I thought you said it would be awesome if I got blown up."
"Is that an invitation for me to leave you, then?" the Togruta retorted.
"On second thought, please don't."
She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know how I'll get the target from here. Not to mention the vulture's dancing around."
"I estimate there's around three seconds before my amazing existence is wiped off from the galaxy. Come on, Stripey, I believe in you." y/n's voice was oddly calm and encouraging despite the danger.
Her brows corrugated into a frown as she followed the moving droid in her crosshairs, a speck in the distance but steadily growing closer as she flew towards his stranded fighter.
The Force aided her as she took a deep breath and concentrated. A sense of tranquillity and pure focus filled her as she aimed, and fired.
The laser bolt zoomed towards the vulture, and hit, sending up an explosion.
The distance it had travelled though, meant that there was a second or two of delay. That much time was enough for the droid to release a shot of its own.
y/n's eyes widened as he saw the laser bolt heading right towards his engines. His hand flicked towards the eject lever a millisecond before his fighter exploded as well.
"Kriff!" Ahsoka swore for the first time, speeding towards him as his body was propelled back by the eruption.
"Did we win?" he stirred slightly, opening his eyes.
"Thank the Force you're alright!" the Togruta's familiar voice filled y/n's ears and the breath was knocked out of him once again as she wrapped him in a bear hug.
"I. Can't. Breathe."
Letting go, Ahsoka smirked at him and crossed her arms, stepping back and letting two medical droids swarm his cot.
"No, we didn't win. Hexa Renou's forces overpowered us. You called for a retreat, and it turns out Master Kenobi, Master Secura and Master Skywalker's strike teams all had to draw back as well. We're regrouping right now and may try to launch a combined attack effort this time. If that doesn't work, we'll have to end the battle; Hexa Renou's destroyed too many troops and her shrewdness is hard to combat."
y/n attempted to sit up, then sighed, hearing the news.
"And my fighter's scorched, right?" he asked sheepishly.
"You were too," Ahsoka replied, her face growing more serious. "I had to pull you out of the explosion. Your flight suit was basically non-existent and you had some severe burns, not to mention oxygen deprivation. They had to put you in the bacta tank."
She paused slightly, realising that by saying his uniform was destroyed, she would have seen him practically shirtless. Thankfully, however, y/n didn't seem to notice.
The droids nodded at him, satisfied with their scans, then left the ward, leaving the two alone.
"Remember that faulty droid that tried to kill me?" he smiled, starting to pull his tunic over his head. "Thank you Stripey. You've done so much for me, and I would be dead ten times over had you not been here for me."
"It's alright. That's what friends are for, I guess," she shrugged modestly with a smirk.
"And um, I want to apologise." Swinging his legs over the side of the cot, he stretched and stood. "I'm stupid sometimes and say idiotic stuff. I know we kinda have this teasing thing, but if I ever go too far to make you feel hurt, tell me."
"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm not that sensitive," she scoffed, lightly punching his shoulder.
He looked relieved, though still a little guilty. "I feel bad. Perhaps we need to start complimenting each other more, or something." He shrugged, then grinned. "I'll start first. I like your hair."
Ahsoka glared at him, humour dancing in her eyes. That was another thing y/n wanted to tell her about, the perfect storm blue shade in her orbs, the way that her gaze could look so piercing and dangerous yet still the heart behind them was kind and benevolent.
"I like your taste in friends. That is to say, me."
Before he had a chance to reply, the Togruta's commlink chimed and they were greeted with a message to rendezvous in the hangar for the next attack.
"Well, see you there soon, n/n," she turned and was about to leave but y/n caught her wrist and turned her around.
"That bear hug hurt. Now's my time for revenge," he grinned and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tight.
YEEEE look at them getting so closeeeeeee