“Corran, no!”

Ahsoka Tano slammed her fist down on the control panel. Her Tie Fighter screeched between clouds of debris, scoring a line of blue through the shadow of the YT-49 Decimator. She was far, far from Corran Horn.

“I’ve got this” came the reply. “He’s right where I want him”.

— — —

This is the second write-up in the ‘Blue Ace’ series. If you’ve not seen it yet, read Part 1 here.

— — —

Earlier, Poe Dameron caught up to Blue Ace outside the mess hall. He looked terrible.

“Listen,” he said. His voice was thick. “We need that R2 unit. It holds information we need to find. Quickly, and quietly. Before the First Order does.” He grabbed Blue Ace by the arm and shuffled him into the shadow of a doorway. “Before the Resistance does”.

Blue Ace arced an eyebrow.

“You’re going to have to trust me,” Poe continued. “I can’t go without raising suspicion. One of the techs has found a signal, and we’ve scrambled a covert squadron.”

The door behind him slid open to reveal two figures standing in the shadow. As Blue Ace’s eyes adjusted he made out a human male and a female Togruta. Both wore flight suits. He faintly recognised the male, who held out a helmet and another flight suit. He took them and turned the helmet over in his hands. It was his own.

Poe clapped Blue Ace on the shoulders and fixed him with a grave look.

“When we lost Luke we lost a vital part in the efforts of the Resistance. But we didn’t lose all of him. We need that R2 unit.”

Poe nodded to the other two pilots, his gaze lingered. Then, he turned to leave.

— — —

As they entered the system, Ahsoka Tano called a series of commands. Then the comm channel went silent. The three ships — an E-Wing, Ahsoka’s captured Tie Fighter and Blue Ace’s own T-70 X-Wing — travelled quickly in close formation.

They manoeuvred in tight arcs, narrowly missing one-another as they threaded through the oncoming asteroids. The two other pilots flew as though they were mindlinked. Blue Ace turned the idea over in his head. Both Jedis?

As if to confirm his thoughts, the two ships slowed almost to a stop with uncanny synchronisation. The manoeuvre came so suddenly that he had to fight to hold formation.

Marked by the burning light of its onboard rockets, a droid appeared from the asteroid field and flew directly towards their group.

“On me,” came Ahsoka’s voice, breaking the silence. “Blue, take my wing, we’ve got company. Corran, punch it as soon as you have R2.”

Blue Ace tightened up to the Tie Fighter. He lost visual on the E-Wing just as the droid slotted into its astromech socket.

— — —

Ahsoka grimaced as the uneasy feeling grew. Her stomach twisted. This was the strongest presence she’d experienced, even compared to the darker days of her training.

“Can you feel that?” said Corran on their private comm channel. “He’s here, isn’t he? Poe’s information was good.” Ahsoka nodded numbly inside her cockpit, forgetting to respond to Corran.

“Stick to the plan Corran,” she said after a pause. “We’ve got R2-D2. The bait worked, now let’s get out of here.”

— — —

Blue Ace came in on a sweeping attack vector. His targeting astromech whistled and his T-70 X-Wing turned a tight boosting manoeuvre. The Decimator, a ship easily three times the size of his own, swang into view. He caught a glimpse of Corran’s E-Wing on its far side.

“I’ve got this” came Corran’s voice through the comm channel. “He’s right where I want him”.

There was a note of calm in his voice.

Blue Ace had heard of Corran Horn, even seen holos of him in briefings. His exploits were legendary among resistance pilots and he was rumoured to be gifted with the force, if not a full Jedi. Blue Ace felt a mix of awe and apprehension as he watched the E-Wing race towards the Decimator head on.

As his own targeting brackets settled over the bigger ship, he saw sudden movement to his starboard side. Clearing the nearest asteroid, a red-striped tie fighter came hurtling into view.

The Special Forces tie fighter released a volley of purple-trailed missiles. They accelerated away and punched through the fore shields of Corran’s E-Wing.

In that same moment, Corran fired on the Decimator in an attack coordinated with Blue Ace. The shields easily absorbed their laser fire.

Suddenly, and without ceremony, Corran Horn’s E-Wing exploded.

The Decimator had opened fire, single-mindedly ploughing into the approach of the E-Wing. So, thought Blue Ace, had the Tie Fighter.

He took another pass at the Decimator, then broke hard to starboard, following Ahsoka’s lead.

“They’re gone” she began, her voice quaking, “Corran, R2, Luke’s legacy.” Before Blue Ace could prompt her, Ahsoka refound her senses and called a series of flight commands to him.

They were going to get clear of the asteroid field, putting what firepower they could into the Decimator, then retreat.

— — —

To begin with, the two ships held a tight formation. Blue Ace pushed his X-Wing tight around an asteroid, narrowly missing the sights of the Special Forces Tie Fighter. His Targeting Astromech chirruped. Ahsoka continued to call commands over the comm channel. She dodged the exploratory laser fire from the enemy Tie Fighter, but its pilot chased her relentlessly, juking left and right to match her evasive action.

How had he recognised her captured Tie fighter as an enemy? The Decimator had ignored her entirely, but this pilot knew something.

“Go for the Decimator, we’ll form up again on the other side of the asteroid field”, she said, her voice much more level now.

Blue Ace turned back into the asteroid field. Ahsoka broke formation, daring the enemy Tie Fighter to give chase. It worked.

Blue Ace settled his targeting brackets for a clear shot on the Decimator. Bright laser fire slammed home, blackening the hull of the bigger ship. Its shields were down. The return fire challenged his piloting skills, but he managed to evade without taking damage.

With full power to his rear shields, he turned away from the Decimator, then began a loop to give chase.

Neatly skirting the edge of the asteroid field, Blue Ace managed to push more damage into the bigger ship without sustaining any himself.

Ahsoka hadn’t fared so well. In the same time, she had taken more than one hit from the Tie Fighter. Without shields, it rattled her. She focussed everything she had to evade the skilled First Order pilot, but her luck was failing. She sustained a major hull breach.

After a dangerous manoeuvre, accelerating to full speed just metres away from a large asteroid, she looked back to see the Tie pilot turning away.

“They’re coming for you, Blue. Regroup.”

They eventually formed up again, turning to focus their fire on the Decimator. As they did so, the enemy Tie fighter reappeared from within the asteroid field. Both enemy ships converged on their position.

Ahsoka had no choice.

“Blue, you need to get out of here.”

Blue Ace pushed his X-Wing directly across the path of the oncoming Tie. He barrel rolled and boosted hard to bring the Decimator back under his guns.

“I’ll draw them to me. Get out of here.”

He didn’t respond to Ahsoka, but watched as she manoeuvred directly towards the Decimator, offering her flank for an easy shot from the enemy Tie. What was she doing?

There was a pause.

The First Order Tie was the first to open fire, then Blue Ace. In a heartbeat, both Ahsoka’s Tie fighter and the Decimator exploded in balls of white light.

Blue Ace turned his flank to the First Order Tie and made the jump to hyperspace.

— — —

Moments before her ship exploded, Ahsoka had relayed a final message to Blue Ace.

As he made the return journey to his station he mulled over his next move. The whole mission had been a setup. The droid had important information, but not for the Resistance. It was a lure.

In a panicked, last gasp, Ahsoka had said two more words.

“Palpatine. Clone.”

His only option was to find Poe Dameron. This was just the beginning.

— — —

Stay tuned for the next chapter in Blue Ace’s story. Who knows, with the release of 2.0, he might even get a name!

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