Traitor

Prologue

Today is quite an unusual day. Captain Cressy is in bad mood. Maxie, his squadron's best pilot, hijacked a Tie Fighter. Ungrateful bastard. What's wrong with the Empire? Everything seems right. Traditional family values. And we even banned LGBT. Last time radar picked him up somewhere in the vast asteroid field near Utopau's second moon. Well, we gotta find the asshole. We can't let a traitor get away that easily. It's okay, it's okay, and he doesn't have hyperdrive anyway. He won't get too far. And no rebel ships have been spotted in the vicinity yet. He's got to be here somewhere.

The chase

Cressy drove the Tie Interceptor gently and carefully. The huge asteroids, slowly rotating, were passing dangerously close to him, blocking his view.

Hmm. There's something suspicious about that asteroid over there that looks like an ugly dwarf. Cressy accelerated. But he almost regretted it at the last moment when he swerved sideways away from the small spinning rock.

Closer. Closer still. What's that shiny thing? Interesting.

Damn... It's just the wreckage of an unfortunate transport that accidentally wandered into this blighted place.

Where could this asshole be hiding? Probably near that trio of huge asteroids over there. That's where I'd lay low if I were him. Let's check it out.

The trio of huge asteroids were slowly getting bigger. They were practically touching each other. Yeah. How big are they. Cressy felt himself and his ship like a small gnat compared to them.

He gave a sharp roll, and the Tie Interceptor neatly fit into a narrow cleft in the asteroid.

I'd lay low somewhere around here if I where you. Careful. Where are you?

Cressy's ship flew out of the crevice into opening of a giant crater.

I must have been wrong.

A little higher. What's that? Behind that rock down there. Uh-huh.

At the bottom of the cliff, the engines glow suddenly appeared. The Tie Fighter spun around its axis and began to gain altitude.

Cressy clenched his teeth.

No, you won't go away.

A sharp turn. A little more. A little more. The targeting system beeped. Cressy pressed the proton torpedoes firing button.

I got ya!

Maxie's ship was still spinning around its axis like a madman. He turned sharply toward the second among the trio of huge asteroids. From the side it seemed as if it was about to crash into it....

A sharp turn. Damn torpedo. It managed to not crash into the surface. It's close. Shit. Maxi saw a hole in the asteroid. That's it. A sharp movement of the rudder.

Cressy watched with a smile. It's going to get him now. Right now.

A sudden explosion blinded Cressy. When his vision began to return, he saw that the torpedo had blown the asteroid to pieces, which were now floating slowly in different directions.

The young asshole deserved it. Cressy smiled and turned the ship around.

Maxie gripped the wheel with all her might. The ship was traveling at ultra-low altitude over the asteroid. Here and there to the left and to the right fell the debris of its exploded twin.

And a torpedo. Damn it. The second torpedo was quite close now. Maxi could even see the blue trace of the ion engine. Even closer. Give me more, dear, give a little more! The old ship grunted, squeezing everything out of its puny engines. All available power was now diverted to them, even the cockpit was lit only by the emergency lights.

It's getting closer... Closer... So close... Maxi closed his eyes.

But the abrupt silence that came was clearly not what he had expected. The torpedo had run out of ion fuel. Maxi exhaled and steered the ship into a small cavern.

Let's hope Cressy thinks I'm dead, he thought.