As soon as he cleared the dust, he was spotted.  The ship that’d moved to cut him off roared to full power and barreled towards him.  Duran flew over the dunes and fields, the sword straight out to one side, but the airship was faster.  It was starting to move parallel to him to give the gunner a clear shot.

Spinning around, Duran threw the sword again.  The orange blur tore through the air towards this target.  This pilot was ready.  The ship lurched to the side, and though the sword tried to veer through the sky to intercept, it couldn’t change course fast enough.  Duran was standing alone, a hundred feet from the nearest cover, with no sword.

The crack of gunfire sounded out, but Duran was surprised that it was coming from behind him instead of in front.  Sparks burst off the ship and it bucked to the side as a wave of bullets crashed into its frame from a couple of the nearest buildings.  Looking back at the town, Duran saw that a few of the buildings were already sprinkled with bullet holes.  The third aircraft must’ve already strafed them when he was dealing with the first.

A whistling behind him gave him a split second warning before his sword was back in his hand.  He barely had time to open his fingers.  The helicopter on his tail rocked back and forth but quickly steadied itself.  Duran brought his sword up and the uneven blade fanned out to cover his body.  Expecting the sound of more gunfire, Duran was startled to hear a voice in his ear.

“Duran, are you still with us?”  It was Yellow.

“For at least a few more seconds.”

“Good, I just got past their blackout.  I’m in the local system now.  In a few seconds I should be tapped into their frequency.”

Bullets slammed into the sword.  Fire and sparks shot off around him at odd angles, either sailing through the air or burying themselves in the dirt.  Duran kept backpedaling, using the force of the bullets to help move him backwards.  In his peripheral vision, he could see the buildings of Blue Skies rising up on either side.  Gent’s bar seemed to be where most of the gunfire was coming from, and it also seemed to be on the receiving end of the most enemy fire.

“Okay, I can see you.  I’ve commandeered some cameras.  In about four seconds I’m going to give you a bit of a distraction,” Yellow said.

Duran broke into a sideways run.  Keeping the sword between him and the enemy fire, he made his way straight for Gent’s bar.

“Get down,” he shouted, but his voice was lost in a sudden explosion of sound.