"DEV! We have a tail!" Hith's sharp tone snapped Dev Loka back to the situation at hand. Sure enough, a hostile fighter was gaining steadily, followed by two others farther back. The protruding prongs of their laser cannons were evident in the silhouettes against the darkness of the void around them.

"This is your idea of a simple job, Hith?!" Dev's gloved hands moved quickly, and his ship began to swing away in a wide curve to face the intercepting fighters, Hith's own craft circling around in the opposite direction. The pirate fighters split formation, roaring forward to intercept. The Bothan's reply came back, delayed as he responded to the sudden enemies.

"It may have been a bit easier if you had followed the plan, boy." His tone carried a hint of anger, though it was presented as a lighter joke. Dev exhaled sharply, not ready to argue with his employer at the moment. He responded quickly, biting back and not yet backing down from the verbal challenge.

"You can whine about it once I get us out of this mess. We have chasers to fry!" A wiggle of the yoke tipped the cockpit back and forth quickly, giving Hith a mock 'wing salute'. 

The leading pirate fighter came at Dev head-on, it's laser cannons lighting the space between them with a deadly red glow. The salvo flew wide as Dev jerked the controls, the bubble of his cockpit tilting just out of the way. A small glimmer bounced from his shield, the upgraded but clunky generator barely powering up in time. 

Dev's finger squeezed the trigger back, and his Cutlass-9 released a spurt of fire. The lasers careened toward the pirate vessel, slashing across the night with a greener glow. It attempted to evade, pulling upwards and only letting one lucky shot make contact. Slamming into the enemy fighter, the energy bolt broke apart part of an engine just to the right of the cockpit. 

"No shields, huh? These guys must've cannibalized their ships." Dev muttered to himself, pleased at the result of his early salvo.

The pirate was sent into a dangerous spiral as he tried frantically to regain control of his doomed craft. Grinning coldly, Dev rotated his Cutlass onto its side to avoid a disastrous collision as the damaged enemy screamed past, trailing smoke. Dev banked himself into a tight turn, angling to finish the wounded foe. Shoving aside his targeting computer for a brief moment, he reported to Hith. 

"One down." His finger slammed onto the stick in an act of bloodthirsty aggression. This time, a concussion missile launched from the belly of the fighter, roaring forward to close the space between them like a dart. The missile did so quickly, embedding itself into the hull of the pirate's starfighter before detonating its lethal ordinance. As the missile exploded, the darkness was briefly lit up as the fuel reserves and munitions aboard the shattered fighter blew apart in turn.

Hith broke the silent show with a delayed response following a frustrated grunt. 

"Good for you. His buddy has latched onto me. An assist would be much appreciated." Hith's tone carried a hint of annoyance covering a surprising undertone of fear. Swiveling his head, Dev saw Hith's fighter twisting in and out, trying to escape a stubborn pursuer. In his experience with the Bothan, Hith was usually more than competent in a dogfight. Evidently, the chasing pilot was as well.

"I'm on it." Dropping the grin from before, Dev grabbed the joystick and rolled his fighter to an intercept course in time to see the lasers dance across Hith's shield once more, this time breaking it and tearing into his plating. Over the comm, Hith let out an angered growl. 

"Soon would be nice, if you don't have other plans!" Dev gritted his teeth and gunned his poor engines for all they had in them. The targeting computer activated once more and began trying to lock onto the weaving starfighter.

"Plot your jump and get clear. I'll hold them off until you get out with the package." Dev's voice crackled across the comm line into the Bothan's ear, interwoven with the various bleeping of warnings and hissing of oxygen tanks.

"Are you sure about this?" Hith's replying voice did not sound at all hesitant to leave Dev in the dust, his words more of a courtesy than a true question to his hired gun.

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't offer. Get out of here." He snapped back resolutely.

Dev's wingman let out a low chuckle over the channel, despite their dire situation.

"Fair enough kid. Don't let these bastards take you down. I'm getting clear and calculating now." Hith's fighter swung wide as he began calculations for the jump to hyperspace. His upgraded computer outmatched Dev's, and in an ideal situation, they had planned to jump together. Little about this was ideal anymore. Gunning his engines, Hith left the fray and would be able to jump away dozens of seconds later. 

Dev opened fire, the lasers whiffing by the pursuing pirate. Though the shots missed, they succeeded in grabbing the attention of the stubborn attacker. The hostile fighter broke off Hith's trail and swung sluggishly to face Dev as the third and final enemy closed in on his tail. 

Beginning to calculate his own jump to hyperspace, Dev swung the nose of the Cutlass into the path of the first pirate, once again squeezing the trigger for a satisfying burst of energy. The pirate turned his ship vertical, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the damage and returning fire with vigor, tearing into Dev's shielding. Shaking from the hit, dev swerved away, peeling around to engage the other attacker as his hyperspace computer faithfully calculated the jump details.

"I could really use an astro droid.." He muttered, hearing his computer bleep to life slowly.

The third fighter lit up space with a bloodthirsty rain of fire, a couple of shots pattering wide across the shields of the Cutlass-9 and narrowly missing his own wingman. The chasing fighter swerved dangerously, firing on Dev's rear shielding. Glancing at the console, dev cursed inwardly as he watched the shield power dwindle, not at all slow enough to last until hyperspace.

The attacker ahead of Dev strafed the underbelly of the Cutlass as they passed each other, scoring a direct hit on its armor plating and shaking the cockpit heavily. Dev gritted his teeth, hissing as he was thrown around, but kept a steady hand on the stick, evading further attacks from the rear. Alarms beeped angrily from the ship, and Dev tuned them out, focusing only on the battle at hand. Swinging his fighter in an excessively tight arc, he started to lose his closest pursuer and began locking onto the final fighter, firing periodically to lower its shields.

The pilot within realized his predicament and attempted to evade to little effect as Dev began chasing him down mercilessly, swerving in and out of fire from his own pursuer. Dev prepared his second concussion missile, and unfortunately his last. Missiles were not cheap, and he had not expected to need them so soon. The targeting computer let out a confirming whine as the lock was completed, and the missile shot out of the Cutlass and tore through space at the fleeing fighter. He was keen to finish the kill, however, the pilot pulled into a last-ditch evasive maneuver. The missile flew wide, detonating on contact with a forward stabilizer fin but not completely destroying the ship. As it spiraled, losing power, Dev allowed himself a satisfied grin.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dev saw the glint of Hith's starfighter blink into hyperspace. His job was done. A second glance to Dev's computer told that calculations for the jump were nearing completion.
This would not come soon enough.

The persistent chasing pilot calculated his trajectory well, cutting off Dev's escape route with a well-placed barrage of laser fire. Slamming into the shield and hull of the Cutlass-9, dev braced for an explosion, but none came. Looking at various warning lights, however, it was clear that the fighter was no longer in battle-ready condition. Engines were operating at low power, and only one of the two laser cannons was functional. 

The enemy swung his fighter in a lazy loop, taunting Dev's struggling ship with his arrogant behavior. The long craft arced around, cannons glowing with heat from the previous barrage. In the cockpit, Dev ground his teeth together, gripping the joystick tightly. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead as he watched the pirate prepare to fire again. Gunning his faltering engines for his final struggle, Dev willed his fighter to push on with all of his might, letting out a loud cry of frustration as he fought with the controls.

"Come on! Move! MOVE!"

Before his life could be snuffed out, Dev slammed the stick to the side. He turned his Cutlass into the enemy's path, sliding past his final pass in a desperate attempt to escape. The pirate was unprepared for the sudden change in his prey's course and missed his next salvo, pulling back in shock to pursue his suddenly escaping target. Dev desperately activated the hyperdrive, and to his relief, it hummed to life. The stars flashed around him and became streaks of light.

Dev leaned his head back slowly, his arms shaking from the brush with death, hardly able to believe his good fortune in the encounter. Releasing the stick, he sunk back into the seat and exhaled a slow, quivering breath. Dev Loka would live to fight another day.

-Hello reader! I hope you enjoyed our opening chapter, beginning on a bit of a low for Dev. This dogfight will hopefully serve as a way to show what is to come, and exhibit a bit of our first character's skill before he is forced to grow further.
I am ecstatic that you took the time to read my work, and I hope you will stick around for more. 

For this particular chapter, some details and formatting may be subject to change as my writing improves, but I hope it works as a good hook to the story for now!

If you have questions, concerns, input, criticism, or suggestions, please let me know! I'm always trying to learn and improve as well as entertain. 

Have a wonderful day, and see you soon! :D
-DC