The X-wing screamed through the void, engines flaring as Kai threw the fighter into a spiraling corkscrew, narrowly avoiding the first volley of blaster fire. The pirate ships scattered like hunting dogs, each trying to cut him off from a different angle.
But Kai wasn't the same pilot who had fled the Death Star's surface in desperation. The Force coursed through him now, a living map of motion and intuition. His hands moved before thought could even form, guiding the ship with near-impossible precision.
A pair of snubfighters rushed in from his flanks.
Kai closed his eyes for a breath—and felt.
His hands snapped to the controls. A sudden surge of thrust, a brutal twist of the yoke—and the X-wing skimmed between the two attackers, so close their shields sparked against one another. Behind him, a trail of blaster bolts meant for his engines instead caught the enemy fighters mid-turn.
Both ships erupted into twin blossoms of fire.
R6 chirped wildly as debris rattled against the shields.
"Stay with me, buddy," Kai muttered, teeth gritted.
Another freighter tried to bring its heavy guns to bear, lumbering into firing position.
Kai jinked hard, barrel-rolling under the larger vessel's hull. As he did, he let the Force guide his fingers, firing precisely at a thin seam between armour plates. The freighter's shields buckled, and an explosion rippled down its side, tearing it apart from within.
Two more fighters down. One freighter disabled.
The last snubfighter peeled away, clearly rethinking its options.
Kai allowed himself a grim smirk.
Then the stars behind the battlefield twisted.
Something massive tore into realspace with the grinding shriek of stressed engines—a vessel so large it blocked out a chunk of the starlight.
An old Imperial Star Destroyer.
Kai's breath hitched in his chest. This wasn't some backwater pirate crew anymore—this was organized, dangerous, and deadly.
The Star Destroyer's hull was battered, patched with crude repairs and scavenged plating, its once-pristine lines marred by years of neglect. Yet its heavy cannons still swiveled with precision. Its hangar bays yawned open like a predator's maw, disgorging a fresh wave of smaller ships.
The comm crackled again, this time a new voice—calm, cold, and certain.
"Unknown pilot. You've made a mistake. Stand down, and you will be taken alive."
Kai's hands tightened on the controls.
Alive wasn't reassuring.
R6 shrieked, scanning the swarm of fresh ships pouring toward them.
They had him boxed in.
Unless he found a way out—and fast.
Kai's mind raced, already feeling for the currents of the Force, searching for a gap, a flaw, anything to survive.
Kai's fingers hovered over the controls, every fiber of him screaming to run, to fight—but the Force whispered something different.
Patience.
A better path would come, if he trusted it.
With a slow, measured breath, he eased back on the throttle, cutting his engines to a low idle. The X-wing drifted in the void, weapon systems powering down one by one.
Across the comms, the pirate voice laughed coldly."Smart move, flyboy. Keep it that way."
Two battered assault shuttles broke off from the Star Destroyer and vectored toward him. Their grappling fields locked onto his ship, pulling it into one of the destroyer's cavernous hangar bays.
Kai shut his eyes for a moment as the Force pressed against his senses, warning of danger ahead. He acknowledged it—but he was ready.
The X-wing's landing skids clanged against the worn durasteel of the hangar. Atmosphere flooded in with a hiss. Kai could already see a welcoming party waiting for him: a small squad of pirates, armoured in mismatched gear, blasters leveled warily.
The ramp lowered. Kai descended with his hands raised slightly, keeping his posture calm, almost disinterested.
One of the pirates—a wiry Rodian with a scar over his snout—stepped forward, tossing a pair of binders at Kai's feet."Put 'em on. No tricks."
Kai knelt slowly, picking up the cuffs. They snapped around his wrists with a mechanical click, the metal biting cold against his skin. He felt no fear—only focus.He could feel their confidence, their underestimation of him bleeding into the Force.
Good.
The Rodian gestured roughly. "Move."
Two pirates flanked him while a third jabbed a stun baton toward his back. Kai moved compliantly, letting them herd him across the hangar and deeper into the ship's corridors. The halls were a patchwork of original Imperial architecture and pirate scavenger work—graffiti, exposed cables, makeshift bulkhead reinforcements.
They walked for several minutes before being funneled into a small, dimly lit chamber near the center of the ship.
Waiting for them was a man who exuded menace without lifting a finger.
The "boss" wore salvaged black officer's armour, a relic of a time when fear alone commanded fleets. His face was heavily scarred, his hair cropped short, and his eyes were sharp and assessing.
He lounged in a seat at the head of a makeshift war table, holographic maps flickering weakly above its surface.
"So," the boss drawled, voice low and measured, "you're the one the big names are whispering about. Hard to believe someone like you's worth the credits they're offering."
Kai said nothing, letting the silence weigh heavy in the room.
The boss smirked, rising from his chair.
"Doesn't matter. You're ours now."
Kai's muscles coiled subtly beneath the illusion of compliance, the Force thrumming under his skin.
Not for long.
The pirates hesitated—then, predictably, opened fire.
Kai moved before they even squeezed the triggers.
In one swift motion, he clipped the stun baton to his belt and ignited his lightsaber.
With a snap-hiss, the violet blade burst into existence, casting an eerie glow across the grimy walls.
The blaster bolts came fast, but Kai was faster. He twisted his body into a fluid, almost dance-like movement, the saber flashing in tight arcs, batting bolts aside with sharp, efficient precision. Each strike was economical, deliberate—not a wasted step or motion.
A bolt ricocheted back into a pirate's shoulder, sending him sprawling with a scream. Another shot deflected into a wall console, sparking a small fire that filled the room with the smell of burning ozone.
Kai lunged forward, slashing a blaster in half with a quick downward cut, the pirate holding it stumbling backward in terror.
In a breath, Kai reached the center of the group. He pivoted on his heel, saber spinning defensively in a Soresu form, creating a near-impenetrable sphere of protection. Another bolt sizzled past—he caught it on the flat of the blade and twisted, sending it whipping back into the last standing guard's thigh.
The pirate dropped, howling.
The boss groaned somewhere under the crate, trying to rise.
Kai advanced, every movement sharp and purposeful. The Force coursed through him, sharpening his senses to a razor's edge. He could feel the hum of the ship's engines beneath the deckplates, the panic of the crew scrambling beyond the doors.
The pirate boss managed to shove the crate aside, coughing violently. He raised his pistol again with a shaking hand.
Kai didn't give him the chance.
With a flick of his wrist, he slashed the pistol in half, sparks exploding as the pieces clattered to the ground.
The boss fell back onto his elbows, glaring up at him with wide, fearful eyes.
"You—what are you?" he rasped.
Kai stared down at him, the violet blade humming inches from the man's throat. His own reflection flickered in the boss's wide, terrified pupils—a young man wreathed in shadow and light, neither Sith nor Jedi.
Something different.
"I'm someone you shouldn't have crossed," Kai said quietly.
With a sharp twist of the hilt, he deactivated the blade, plunging the room into darkness save for the flickering fire from the damaged console.
Without another word, Kai turned and sprinted out of the cargo hold, R6's distant whistles guiding him through the ship's narrow, filthy corridors.
He moved like a ghost, dispatching the few unfortunate pirates who got in his way with quick, stunning strikes—not killing, but making sure they stayed down. He didn't have time for drawn-out fights.
He reached the hangar bay, breath steady, saber ready.
His X-wing waited, battered but intact, resting in the midst of a chaotic mess of stolen ships and scavenged parts.
Several pirates were already scrambling into position, shouting and dragging heavy repeaters into place.
Kai didn't slow down.
He stretched out his free hand, and with a fierce pull of the Force, wrenched the repeaters free of their mounts, sending them crashing down onto their crews with a thunderous clatter.
The path was clear.
R6 had already started the preflight. The X-wing's engines glowed faintly, powering up.
Kai sprinted up the boarding ladder, flipping into the cockpit with practiced grace. His hands flew across the controls, yanking the canopy shut.
The pirates rallied, firing on the fighter as it shuddered to life. Blaster bolts ricocheted off the hull harmlessly.
R6 gave an urgent beep.
"I know, I know!" Kai barked, pulling the stick back hard.
The X-wing lurched upward, straining against the tractor beams that tried to clamp it down.
Kai gritted his teeth and reached out through the Force, feeling the mechanism locking his ship in place.
A deep breath.
A sharp push.
Somewhere deep in the hangar's machinery, something groaned—and then shattered.
The X-wing blasted free, punching out of the hangar bay like a comet, leaving the pirates scrambling behind him in chaos.
The starry void swallowed the battered fighter, and Kai set a new hyperspace course on instinct alone—anywhere, anywhere but here.
As the stars stretched into lines and the galaxy blurred away, Kai leaned back in his seat, breathing hard, heart pounding with fierce, electric life.
That had been too close.
But he wasn't running anymore.