Douglas Walker

[Toaster]

A brilliant flash of light enveloped Douglas' Rhino as it cleared the trade lane together with two Bowex Gulls. As soon as manual control was running again, he jerked his little freighter away from the larger ships before they could accidentally smash him to pulp.

"Forming up for the jump?" One of the transport captains asked.

"Negative. I'll be alright on my own," Douglas replied. He then closed the channel and lay back in his seat to watch the two vessels drop into the spiraling vortex of hyperspace that filled the jump gate ahead. As the last Gull edged into the gate, the Rhino's autopilot kicked in and moved Douglas closer to the structure.

Suddenly, a wing of DSE fighters, followed by two Camara freighters, blinked into existence beside the gate. One of the fighters had lost a wing while another one was trailing a stream of smoke from its engines. One of the Camaras was leaking what seemed to be H-Fuel from its cargo hold.

Casually, Douglas flicked a switch, aborting the jumping sequence. He then hailed the DSE convoy.

"DSE freighter convoy, this is Universal Black Nine. What happened to you?"

For about a minute, there was no response. The beaten ships slowly moved towards the trade lane to West Point. Then, finally, the less-damaged freighter keyed the channel.

"This is DSE Gold Three. We were ambushed by a large group of Rogue and Outcast fighters by the jump gate," the pilot, a woman, took a deep breath. "We lost a freighter and an escort before the Navy support even showed up. From what I could tell, they weren't faring well when we jumped."

Damn it, Douglas though.

"Roger that, thanks for the information," he said after a moment.

"Jumping in there will be suicide, Black Nine."

"I know."

With that, Douglas cut the channel again and restarted the jump sequence. Slowly, the Rhino flew towards the pulsing blue light. A moment later it vanished into the brilliance of hyperspace...

... and reappeared within the explosion of a transport.

---

Olivia Sable