The Traveler punched out of Hoth's atmosphere, engines screaming.
Amir was pushing the ship to its limit, driven by an ominous premonition that had been clawing at him ever since the signal jammer he carried was damaged.
He never ignored this feeling; the Force was warning him to leave this area immediately.
Having entered Hoth's atmosphere once before, he was roughly familiar with the orbital lanes and deliberately steered in a direction away from the dense asteroid belt.
Bleep-bloop-bzzzt!
BD-4 suddenly cried out anxiously.
Amir also spotted the anomaly on his sensors.
A fleet of ships was tailing them!
At the very front was a modified light freighter. Its shuttle-shaped dorsal section was equipped with multiple heavy laser cannons, protecting the hull below. Two massive thrusters extended sideways from the rear.
It was a cut above the Traveler's twenty-five-meter hull, exceeding forty meters in length. It had been modified to be extremely intimidating, its exterior scorched and pitted with the battle damage of numerous fights.
Behind this freighter followed several starfighters. These small craft lacked hyperdrives and could only be deployed by large carrier warships or transport using external hyperdrive rings.
Either way, it proved the group behind them was not to be trifled with.
Amir was just about to send a message asking their business when he realized his own signal jammer was active. This meant that even if the other party hailed him, he wouldn't receive it, nor could he reply.
"A headache."
Amir briefly considered turning off the signal jammer, communicating with this group, and then turning it back on. After all, he was about to jump to hyperspace. Even if he was tracked for a second, he'd be miles away instantly.
But then he remembered he would definitely need to return to Hoth for the ruins, and immediately vetoed the idea.
Although he might have already exposed his signal briefly on the ground, that was a momentary mistake. If he had an active, continuous signal transmitting outwards now, it would be a beacon for his enemies.
Many tracking transmitters, to save energy and extend their lifespan, were set with timers—bursting a signal every half hour, or even just once a day. Amir wasn't sure what kind of hidden tracker might be on him or his ship.
As long as the possibility existed that he hadn't been fully locked on, he had to preserve that uncertainty so his return here could be quiet.
Despite this hope, Amir still prepared for the worst.
Having rejected the idea of communicating, Amir could only accelerate again. He had considerable confidence in the Traveler's speed.
"Damn, they're opening fire!" Amir suddenly detected a high-energy spike from the sensors.
Quickly adjusting the ship's course, Amir performed a barrel roll, dodging two laser blasts from the rear.
"What a vicious society this is, opening fire on sight. Can't they be a little friendlier?" Amir complained internally, but his hands flew across the controls, keeping the Traveler evasive.
Suddenly, a thought struck him.
This couldn't be that band of pirates Charles screwed over, could it?
I should have thought of it. In such a remote system, how could a fleet coincidentally target me?
Realizing this, Amir knew a fight was unavoidable.
The ships behind continued to fire, but Amir noticed a pattern. Many shots weren't aimed directly at the Traveler. Instead, they were continuously bracketing the ship's flight path.
"They're herding us into the asteroid belt!" Amir realized the pirates' intention.
"What good does forcing us into the asteroid belt do them? Can they fly safely in there?"
Bleep-bloop~
"Sorry BD-4, I shouldn't have counted on your little brain to figure out pirate tactics."
Bleep-bleep-bleep!!
Amir symbolically launched two concussion missiles back at them, but as expected, they had no effect. The enemy was too cautious, like a shepherd slowly herding his flock. They kept their distance from the Traveler.
Although the attacks were dense, they acted like the crack of a whip, guiding the sheep in the intended direction.
Under Amir's piloting skills, the ship was in no real danger of being hit. But as soon as he tried to break formation and move away from the asteroid belt, the fleet's attacks became intense and hard to avoid.
"Don't tell me they have an ambush in the asteroid belt?"
Amir had to consider this possibility. Although asteroid fields were extremely dangerous, some desperados always found ways to survive in them, or even exploit them. The galaxy was vast and full of strange things.
And Amir still remembered the giant creatures—the Exogorths—that might exist in this asteroid belt.
"I can't let them lead me by the nose."
Amir made up his mind. They were already near the edge of the field; any longer and they'd enter the outermost debris cloud.
Amir seized an opportunity and suddenly released two proton torpedoes. He didn't aim to hit them, just to distract them.
Sure enough, the two blinding explosions in the void successfully disrupted the pirates' rhythm. Their rate of fire faltered.
"Now!"
Amir took the chance to slam the throttle and bank hard, breaking out of the blockading barrage.
The enemy fighters behind readjusted and immediately resumed their attack, but the Traveler had already broken from their kill box. The laser bolts dissipated harmlessly far behind Amir.
Their targeting systems were finding it difficult to lock onto his erratic movements.
"Hahaha, you think you can block me with just this?" Amir shouted, relieved.
Ahead of him, looming in the distance, was a massive, solitary asteroid.
"This isn't the asteroid belt yet, is it? That thing is huge!"
Bleep-bleep-bleep!
"It couldn't have been captured by some planet's gravity, could it? If that thing fell on Hoth, it would definitely cause a massive extinction event."
Amir thought as he banked to bypass it from the left.
The pursuing fire from behind gradually thinned out. Amir had already left the pirate fleet a great distance behind.
Bleep-bleep-bleep!
"What is it now? Don't worry, we can prepare to jump to hyperspace soon."
"What?!!"
Following BD-4's frantic alert, Amir looked to the side. The massive asteroid, which should have been drifting slowly in the distance, was rapidly closing in on him.
Because the asteroid had been floating silently on his right, Amir hadn't paid it much mind. His Force sense had been focused on the malice coming from the pirates behind him. He didn't know when it had suddenly accelerated and rushed the Traveler!
"No time!"
Amir violently pulled the yoke up and banked hard left. A few seconds later, the Traveler scraped dangerously past the asteroid's dull, greyish-brown surface.
Bleep-bleep-bleep!
"Power is at maximum!" Amir shouted, realizing the ship's speed was dropping drastically despite the engines roaring.
"Holy—! It's a tractor beam!!!"
Amir stared in shock at the asteroid's surface as they flew close.
It was covered in dense mechanical facilities, heavy gun turrets, and massive thrusters. No one could have imagined this machinery was hidden behind a dull, earthy-yellow crust!
How was this an asteroid?! This was practically a Star Destroyer!
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