Out of Darkness

A loud echoing sound started pinging from the radar as the asteroids were getting thicker and more cumbersome to fly around. Fett glanced briefly at the screen before turning his attention back to the viewport on the Slave I. Amidst cluster of rocks moving on the screen a fairly large, empty, dark spot on the monitor was starting to come into view. And based on his estimated flight pattern, Solo was heading straight for it.

Fett smirked, apparently the field was getting to be a lot for Solo to handle. That didn’t matter, it would be easier to take him out in the open.

A loud crash shook the Slave I and the cockpit started flashing red, followed by a loud alarm.

“Haar’chak!” Fett cursed to himself. Rarely if ever did he curse out loud to himself unless the situation was bad.

Looking at the monitors above him that showed blueprints of the Slave I, the outside right wing was flashing on the screen and a plethora of data started to scroll down, indicating that a stray asteroid had come from behind and knocked out the stabilizer fin on the right wing.

He looked at the monitors in front of him after dodging a rather large, building sized asteroid and firing a few shots at the Millennium Falcon. The monitors showed that the shields were still up on in the front and on the sides so the only way he could have been hit was if the asteroid had come from behind. This, however, was an impossible feat as they were moving with the general direction of the current and even though the direction of most asteroids was at random, he was still traveling at speeds quick enough that it would be impossible for that angle and direction of impact to happen.

Suddenly rocks started flying past him from behind. He pushed the Slave I down into a trench as smoothly and evenly as he dared, closer to Solo nonetheless, but also to avoid being crushed from behind. Something was very wrong about this situation.

~~~

Han pulled the Millennium Falcon up out of the trench to avoid the rapid and open fire from Fett’s turrets. He too started to notice the odd change in direction of the asteroids, it was almost as if something were pulling them out of their original course. After rounding up and around a bend in the belt his heart sunk to his stomach. “Leia!” He yelled in concern. “Now would be a very good ti-..”

“GO!” She yelled as she fell into her seat and strapped in just before Chewbacca pulled the ship up to try and get away from the massive black hole that was pulling them, and all the asteroids around them, towards it with such a powerful gravitational pull it was starting to override the controls from the sudden extreme pressure. She leaned back and looked at the radar screen, eyes wide and mouth hanging a gape at the sight.

There was a powerful lurch and a blur of stars as the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive systems finally kicked in and they were gone from the asteroid belt in the blink of an eye.

~~~

Rounding up right behind Solo as he came out of the trench, Fett gripped his shaking controls tightly as he tried to yank the ship off to the side to avoid running into the Millennium Falcon altogether and to avoid being crushed by the rocks flying every which way. With the stabilizer fin completely gone, the ship was suddenly very uneven and hard to balance, the force of the right side completely tugging to bring him in a downward spiral. A loud crash from behind rocketed him forward as the sudden gravitational force started tugging the Slave I violently towards the enormous black hole waiting to swallow him. He disregarded Solo for the moment in an attempt to reset the ships hyperdrive system, ignoring the red flashing light and the blaring alarm that continued to try and alert Fett of the new problems he faced with his ship. The force of the gravitational pull had been so strong it nearly started to strip the outside metal plating off.

You broke a sacred law in Hunting and now you’re about to pay for it. Fett thought to himself as he saw his impending and eternal doom dragging his ship helplessly towards the darkness. Always listen to your instincts.

The hyperdrive system started to sputter to life, but ran short of time as he was knocked even closer towards the black hole from the side. The impact didn’t directly damage the Slave I since the shields were still up on the front and sides of the ship, but at this point it didn’t matter. He held his breath as he watched from his viewport as the Slave I was sucked into total darkness. The lights on the control panel started flashing in a chaotic like way for a few moments before the entire ship powered down and all that was left was darkness.

A never ending pool of agonizing black silence.

There was no noise, Fett sat as still as he could as he strained to hear something other than his heart hammering in his chest and the HUD in his helmet scrolling, trying to scan the area for some sort of image outside. The seconds started to drag on into minutes, minutes started to feel like hours. The longer he waited and the more he strained to listen the more his anxiety rose. Normally in troublesome situations like this he was able to stay calm and composed, rarely ever being one to panic when put under pressure. But this was not like any situation he had ever come across. Not even comparing to falling into the Great Pit of Carkoon.

However; he was able to escape that, and no one in the history of the galaxy had ever accomplished that feat, so what was so different about this situation? Just because no one had ever been successful at it did not mean that it was impossible. Letting out a quiet sigh, which seemed to echo in his helmet, he reached forward and attempted to restart the Slave I. With all hope seemingly lost, it was best to just start at the basics and then get more creative from there.

Suddenly the atmosphere changed dramatically. The complete darkness disappeared in an instant, as if someone had turned a light on, and a loud crack hit the sensor jammer at the very top of the Slave I. After the deafening sound of the silence he had just experienced, the loud crack made Fett wince in pain as the sound exploded through his eardrums and seemed to echo through his helmet.

Flashing lightning lit up in front of him followed by another earsplitting crack of thunder that lit up the entire area. In front of him Fett saw a mixture dark gray, navy, violet, and black clouds swirling in a tsunami like formation with lightning dancing through, threatening to swallow the entire ship whole as he flew through the vortex. Suddenly the ship dropped, the force of the inertia made the harness on his seat dig harshly into his shoulders and chest. Instinctively reaching forward, he hit the controls, continuing to make a valiant attempt in starting his ship. It was obvious this sudden free fall gave the impression he wasn’t in space and had to have been on a planet of some sort.

It’s not possible a planet could still be intact if it was swallowed by a black hole. Was it possible that even the atmospheric pressure and gravity was still intact? But how? Fett thought to himself as the Slave I fought with him. There was plenty of fuel still in the ship and the engines were not as badly damaged as expected, but the sudden force of absolute absence of everything must have damaged internal lining.

As if his thoughts were being answered, another bolt of lightning struck the top of the ship and with a roar the ship was brought to life. The control console in front of him suddenly lit up, the radar beeping at the sudden detection of environment and landmasses, making the alarms start to sound and red emergency light rotating quicker than normal. The analog sticks, which his hands were resting on, almost raddled his arms off as he strained back and pulled, yanking the ship in an upwards motion and just barely avoiding a giant rock like structure that had come into view. His heart jumped in his throat as he realized he was much lower to ground than he originally thought. The Slave I careened upwards in a lopsided angle further into the vicious lightning storm.

After gaining his bearings for a moment and trying to calm his now pounding heart, Fett analyzed the radar in front of him and copied the information into his helmet. With a few blinks and quick eye movements, Fett was able to control the HUD in his Mandalorian helmet, changing the objective of the screens from infrared scanners, GPS, information analysis, to receiving and answering (or ignoring) incoming Comm calls. Glancing at the sudden plethora of information spilled out to him, he pushed the Slave I upwards in as straight as a path possible. A sudden lurch yanked the ship back as one of the wings hit something hard and what little help he had balancing the ship was completely gone.

Spiraling downwards, Fett grabbed his controls tightly and pulled back. At this point, there was no possible way to fly and crash landing the ship upright would be the only way of surviving this. Since the Slave I was a Firespray model it was designed with the engines facing the ground when landed or at idle and when flying the entire ship rotated vertically 90 degrees, so, in situations like this, crash landing the ship, with little to no help from the computer systems meant crash landing blindly.

The warning red flashing from the radar, now copied into his helmet, was almost blinding. There were jagged and extreme landmasses everywhere. It was a miracle they hadn’t already crashed head on into a cliff. Fett groaned as he strained against the controls, with the right wing of the Slave I completely immobile, it was near impossible to keep attempting to hold the ship in a general direction. The only possible way Fett could determine the area they were going was the radar, otherwise, the spinning from the viewport was enough to make even the strongest of stomachs weak. The odds of landing upright with the spinning was slim and the odds of making it out alive even slimmer.

The blaring alarm started getting louder and louder, making it even harder to think in the already stressful situation. But suddenly it dawned on Fett.

The shield generators. They’re still operational!

Reaching for the console Fett strained against his harness to find the right control in the mess of flashing lights. The flashing lights, spinning motion, strength of the torque and blaring alarms caused such disorientation it made it hard for Fett to even say he hit the right controls before he looked up. The sudden force of hitting a thick brush of trees made him jolt forward, slamming his outstretched hand down on the controls. A blue-white film exploded around the ship before it slammed further down into the thick forest. Fett braced himself as a large rocky image appeared out of the trees just moments before impact. It was the last thing he saw as the impact of the crash was enough to rip the harness holding him in the pilot seat and fling him against the viewport.