The Nova dived, cutting a pale white shadow that was reminiscent of a ghost in deep fog as it descended toward the dried riverbed far below.
Ella ignored the pressing walls of the canyon as they closed in on either side, becoming narrower and narrower as they descended.
Salpantor made a nervous growl.
"I know what I'm doing . . ." Ella whispered, both her hands on the steering column to give her maximum control.
In her mind's eye she pictured the canyon ahead. She recalled its numerous twists and turns, of how a seemingly dead end could suddenly reveal itself to be a way through a cliff face, of the immense caverns that were probably big enough to park a whole Star Destroyer inside.
There were opportunities here. So long as she was bold enough.
So long as she was skilled enough too.
A green blast overtook them and vaporised the cliff face on their right, but it was further away than the previous fighter's attempts.
"They're as terrified as I am!" Chip muttered. "And I have an emotional inhibitor too."
"Maybe you would like to fly?" Ella snapped.
"I can't. My cerebral enhancements slow my reaction times. I would fly us into a cliff face without thinking."
"What do you do then? Can you aim an outrigged gun turret?"
"Absolutely not!" Chip protested. "My enhancements prevent me from directly taking life."
"You don't fight, you don't fly! What do you do?"
"I think!" Chip pointed out.
Ella found herself emitting a low growl of anger. Salpantor gave her an askew glance that somehow communicated an approval.
"Well if you have any ideas I'd be welcome to them," she said quietly as the bottom of the canyon revealed itself, swathed in misty vapours and in a permanent twilight.
Ella pulled the Nova out of its steep dive and increased the speed. She had biked out this way dozens of times, often taking a wicked joy in venturing to the more dangerous areas of the canyons and confounding her palace pursuers.
It was only Jish who had ever been able to keep up with her.
"May I suggest you fly close to the ground?" Chip said, pulling her thoughts back to the present. "It should confuse the TIEs sensors."
"Close to the ground? I think we can do that . . ."
Ella guided the Nova in at high speed and in low visibility. Rocks and outcroppings would emerge through the mists with no more than a few seconds warning, and often the Nova's own sensors were hindered by the uneven ground and its soft moist composition.
She was flying more by memory than by sight and sensor.
Ella reduced the altitude until they were no more than a dozen feet above the featureless surface.
"I don't think you have to get quite so close to the ground . . ." Chip murmured.
A new alarm bleeped to life from Salpantor's side. The wookie gave an angry growl.
"Hal's got the turret operational," Chip said. "Turn the speakers on."
Salpantor flicked a switch and gave Chip several snarls that were far from friendly.
"I know he's one of them, I know," the cyborg said. "But he was tortured under Sarn's orders. It's hardly likely he's going to shoot us down is it?"
"Hal?" Ella said. "Don't shoot at anything. That will give our position away in this mist. We're coming up to a chasm - it's the narrowest point of the canyon. The fighters will have to come through in single file. When we're through the other side they will be lined up. They'll be as easy as hitting a bantha with a blaster at point blank range!"
"I've never seen a bantha," Hal replied meekly. "And I've never shot anything at point blank range . . ."
"Hardly forged from the same mould as Tarkin is he?" Cor murmured.
Ella ignored the jibe.
"Just fire when I tell you, Hal. Not before," she instructed him. The Nova raced forward, swerving in elegant curves and banking around ancient rock formations, with Ella flying from the memory of her previous adventures evading the palace guards more than anything in the living moment.
She brought the Nova up sharp as they approached Garrand's Wart, a name Ella had given the formation after receiving a frustrating lecture from the King, and one of which only her and Tayre knew.
It was her waypoint for what lay beyond.
"Hal? Wake up. We're going to break cover and head for the chasm. Hold fire until I say." She turned to the wookie. "Sal - angle the deflector shields. Give maximum power to the rear plates."
Ella felt the currents of energy shift in the Nova as her co-pilot did as she requested.
Then she pulled the column back, and the Nova rose at speed from the mists.
The TIEs were on them within in an instant.
Green fire cascaded to the right and left. More tore through the air above them.
Ella put the Nova into a spin, and the enemy fire fell off and reduced in intensity as the pilots sought to match her course.
"Oh dear," Chip murmured, looking at the walls of the chasm fast approaching. "Do you really think we'll fit through that?"
Cor put her wings over her eyes and gave a high pitched chirp.
Ella turned the Nova side on, in a vertical approach, holding the ship steady as they entered the chasm. On her speeder bike this was an easy enough path, but in something the size of the Nova . . .
She clenched her jaw and held her nerve.
The rough faces of the rock passed by both above and below her, with only metres to spare on either side.
Sal made a growl that ended in a whimper.
"We're nearly through the worse of it," she murmured. "Stay focused."
A single green blaster bolt shot overhead and vanished beyond. It was panic fire, Ella realised. The TIE pilots would have to be putting all their concentration into staying away from the chasm's walls, for they were as wide as the Nova was tall.
Ella increased the throttle and the Nova surged forward.
"Get ready Hal!" she said. "We'll be through in a few more seconds. Then I'll bring her up sharp. That will give you a good chance to pick them off as they approach the end of the chasm."
She didn't wait for his reply as the chasm widened. She spun the Nova ninety degrees so it was flying once more in a horizontal plane.
In the open, she forced the ship down and then jerked roughly back, ignoring the cries of unease from the cockpit's other occupants, presenting the top of the ship to the ongoing TIEs.
And giving Hal the best opportunity she could to line them up.
"Go Hal!" she screamed.
The heavy cannonade erupted from behind her, reverberating around the ship in a heavy 'thump-thump-thump' as the outrigged turret loosened off its shots.
A signal shouted once, and then again.
"He's got two of them!" Cor said in delight.
"I've got two of them!" Hal reported back, elated. "And a third spun off into the cliff face. There's two more coming up fast–"
The Nova shuddered as a blast caught her rear starboard quarter.
"Air pressure steady," Chip said. "No hull breach."
"Shields holding," Cor added. "But we can't outfly two TIEs in an open space. They're too agile!"
Hal loosened another barrage.
"Thump-thump-thump!"
Another green torrent raced overhead. A second later, to emphasise Cor's point, the Nova rocked again.
This time, another alarm sounded.
"Hyperdrive coil took a hit," Chip said. "That's not good." He turned to a wall-mounted console. "I'll check the damage."
Ella rolled the Nova again in an attempt to throw them off.
"Hal?"she said. "How are you getting on?"
"Thump-thump-thump!"
"They're too fast!" Hal complained. "I can't get a fix on them."
The Nova rocked again with a harder jolt than before.
"Hold on!" Ella said. "I've got an idea." She gave Sal a quick glance. "Whatever you do, wookie, don't interfere with my flight plan!"
She pushed the Nova to its maximum, guiding it across the dark opening, looking for the rays of the sun far above, trying to identify her exit.
"Thump-thump-thump!"
A green cascade of fire caught the cockpit window and dissipated in a brilliant burst of energy on the Nova's front shields. An ionising ball of yellow electricity 'snapped' into their midsts and vanished in the same instant.
"We can't take much more of this!" Cor shrieked. "Ella - do something!"
"I'm working on it!" she shot back.
She pushed the Nova to its left and right in an effort to spare them any more hits, but the TIE pilots were good. They had Ella's style now, and they were too skilled to be caught by Hal's amateurish gunfire.
"Thump-thump-thump!"
"It's no good!" came Hal's voice from the outrigged turret. "They're too fast!"
Without warning, Ella jerked the steering column back and the Nova rose in a sharp ascent toward the canyon tops illuminated by the sun.
"Here we go Sal," she said. "Just remember what I told you: do not interfere! I'm heading for that black fissure two thirds of the way up."
The canyon wall grew closer at an alarming speed, the black fissure a scar on the surface.
"Hold on everyone!" Ella said.
"You . . . you are going to change course aren't you?" Chip murmured, looking up from his console. "You are approaching awfully fast . . ."
"And I'm not stopping!" she said.
"Thump-thump-thump!"
"If he carries on like that the cannon might overheat and burst into flames," Cor muttered, talking deliberately to hide her nervousness. "Probably more of a danger to us than to any Imperial–"
She was hushed by a growl from Salpantor.
Ella was thankful for it too. She was counting down the seconds to her approach, carefully adjusting her planned manoeuvre for the extra size and mass of the Nova, her eyes fixed on the fissure and the angle of approach she would need.
"The TIEs are closing in," Chip said in a whisper.
Ella said nothing. She had counted on it.
The canyon wall was before them now, so close that even the sky was but a faint blue line in the cockpit's roof.
"Trust me," Ella said. "I've done this before."
She held her nerve and didn't pull away or slow: either at this stage would be disastrous. If she pulled away, they were too close to the rock face to correct their path and they would certainly crash. If she slowed, the TIEs would make short work of them.
She had to see her plan through.
The fissure filled the cockpit windows. Sal emitted a high-pitched growl that ended in a despairing sigh.
They were seconds from a collision.
"I know, I know," Ella murmured. "NOW!"
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Thanks for reading - as ever, if you liked the adventure then please be sure to vote for it.
It's a desperate gamble, but Ella knows Farsalt and its environment well. Plus she has been piloting ships in simulations and training for most of her life - but TIEs are notoriously hard to shake off.
One thing I like in this chapter is the interaction between Ella and the cyborg Chip. I've used the opportunity to lay down some ground rules as to what a cyborg can and can't do, and to use this to illustrate that their enhancements come with a price.