Read “STAR WARS: A Smuggler’s Entanglement: COMPILED!" Page 6
The Burned Cloak's stout thrusters fired up, and the Corellian starship eased out of the sinkhole city of Nos tai. As he piloted the ship past the opening of the sinkhole and quickly beyond the surface of Utapau, Deacon 90 could see nothing out of the ordinary. As Cloak rocketed away from the desert-green planet, Deacon saw Utapau's nine moons and wondered if he would ever see them again—
The ship's warning system of approaching craft blared loudly! Deacon could not pick up visuals with the naked eyes. He then switched to the ship's monitors. He saw ten small—very nimble!–ships coming straight at him! They were of a design he had never seen before. The body of the ships were spherical, much like the moon-sized weapon schematic that Kaird had showed Deacon back on Nedij. The front of the ships had a polygonal-fitted, cockpit windows, and connect to the port and starboard of the ships via stout “arms” were large, hexagonal wings—solar panels, perhaps? In any case, Cloak's sensors showed that they were streaking toward Deacon at a fast clip!
“What are those,” Deacon asked Ccer over the comlink.
Even with the no-frills monitoring system Deacon had installed in the faux-thrusters, Ccer could see what they were.
“TIE fighters...Twin Ion Engines assault ships. One of many several new ships the Empire has developed since the Clone Wars! We must go to hyperspace soon, Captain 90. I've seen these craft in action!”
“We've got to get far enough from Utapau's moons first! Their combined gravity-wells would suck us in!”
As Deacon readied the ship for hyperspace-mode, he noticed that the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer had also began pursuit! He assumed it was where the TIE ships had come from. For they were much too small for long-distance space travel. But Deacon got his first lesson on Imperial-blitz tactics!
A couple of the closer TIE fighters fired hot-green, lancing lasers and struck the Burned Cloak on its port side; taking out a huge chunk of the bottom faux-thrusters! Fortunately, it was one of the vacant smuggling thrusters, Deacon could see based on his ship's sensors. But it violently pounded Cloak and slowed it down...hence, causing the TIE ships and the Star Destroyer to get closer! Which, in turn, meant even more laser-shots from the TIEs!
“Captain, now,” Ccer's voice barked from the comlink, screams from her grandchildren nearly drowning her out!
Deacon did not even argue with Ccer. He normally would remind a client that it was his ship. But in this case, with her extensive experience with the Empire more than Deacon, he took her orders and punched the hyperdrives and the Burned Cloak's thrusters' brilliance flashed five times brighter, and the Corellian ship disappeared from the Utapau system; leaving debris from the faux-thruster in its wake.