Then finally she spoke up.
“You're right. We have to try something.”
“All we have to is at least let's give the Destroyer a distraction.” Marack said.
“Right, maybe we can knock out a turret or something. Freighter AA-18, how long until you can jump again?”
“14 and a half minutes. Should we go back to Irakillion or Gateway.” And that was the problem wasn't it. They could give up now, or double the opportunities for attack.
“Irakillion.” Sikes said without a moment of hesitation. “We'll cover you.”
“Confirmed.”
“Let's do this.” Marack said and Cares struggled to follow his tight arc back to the Destroyer. She opened fire when the others did, pointlessly spraying the hull of the Destroyer with hundreds of rounds. She could see Maracks craft aiming for one of the gun turrets and moved to do likewise while Sikes focused her attention on on of the sensor nests that littered the Destroyer.
But she knew it was pointless. She stayed with the Destroyer as it swung around to bring it's two heavy cannons to bare on the freighters. She heard Marack swear and watched as he fired a constant stream of rounds at the cannons. They bounced off harmlessly. With a sickening feeling Cares watched as the first round blast out of the Destroyer, and a second later the first freighter was cracking apart with a impressive display of fire.
“More fighters launching.” Sikes shouted. Cares twisted around to face the Destroyers hangerbay and without thinking opened fire on the craft emerging. The four fighters scattered but her rounds smashed into the hanger bay itself before the bays armored doors could close. She could see the hanger's deck buckle and then break apart a moment before an explosion, from fuel or ordinance she couldn't tell, took out half the bay. It felt good to do some proper damage.
The enemy fighters came after her as the second freighter went up in flames. Cares didn't have time to try and fire back at her pursuers, or even the Destroyer, they were doing their best not to give her the chance.
“We have to get out of here.” Sikes said, her voice slightly more strained than Cares expected it to be.
“Not yet.” Marack called back. Cares said nothing, trying to concentrate as much as possible on evading the fighters. They were good, she had to admit, and tenacious. Cares saw the flash as the Destroyer fired again, and she snarled.
“Withdraw, everyone jump out.”
“I said not yet!” Cares flew close to the Destroyers hull, rounds passing either side of her craft. They were getting close and closer and she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them got lucky.
“I could-” She started, before being cut off by Sikes.
“There is nothing left here, get out now.” A bright star caught her eye. It was moving in a arc towards her so fast that her computer lost the race to identify it. She swung her own craft around as Marack's bared down hers, his rounds lighting up the inside of her canopy as they blasted past. Cares heard his yell that turned into a triumphant laugh.
“Did you see that!” She glanced at her Flight computer, noting that two of the hostile contacts had winked out of existence. Marack gave another yell. “Did you?”
Cares tried to force her heart to slow down as she pulled away from the Destroyers hull. Behind her Marack was firing on the third Castle while Sikes took care of the fourth. She shook her head and swore just loud enough for it to be heard over the comms.
“Now can we withdraw?” Sikes said once the last two Castles had been dealt with. Cares glanced down at her computer and felt her stomach open into a pit. There was now no point in staying any longer. Marack swore.
“I'm tempted not to. We can hurt that ship a little more if we try hard enough.” He said, his voice low.
“No we can't. One day, soon perhaps, we will be in a position to do far more than hurt it, but not now. Everyone hit your jump drive and get back to Gateway.” Cares took one last look at the Destroyer, still sitting there as if it didn't have a care in the world. She saw a flicker of fire coming from its hanger bay and smiled. She'd hurt it a little. No one else had managed to. The Destroyer began changing course as Marack and Sikes started their jumps, Cares saw the Destroyers guns twisting towards her and knew it was time to go. With a sigh she activated her jumpdrive.
And the sigh turned into a scream.
Marack heard the screaming a moment after his jump completed. Before he even knew what was going on he had started to turn his fighter around, ready to take on anything. What he saw drained every last instinct to fight out of him. Cares' fighter was spinning out of control, a sheath of plasma from the jump enveloping her stricken craft. The scream coalesced into Cares' panicked voice.
“Mayday mayday mayday. I'm hit. Anyone?”
“We're right here.” Marack responded, almost shouting.
“I've lost all control, computer system down, life support down, everything's gone.” She still had her emergency comm unit Marack noted, she was just to scared to recognize it.
“We're coming to you now.” Sikes said. “Try to kill any momentum you have. The slower you're going the easier it will be for the SAR shuttle to collect you.”
“Marack to Palisade, eta on Search and Rescue?” Marack kept his fighter aimed at Cares'. The plasma sheath was beginning to dissipate now, in a few seconds he'd be able to see the state of her craft.
“Ten minutes Vali 2.” The controller said back.
“What?” Marack snapped back. He switched his comm unit so it wouldn't transmit to Cares. “Her life support is down, she'll be out of air in about 3 minutes. If that long.”
“Understood. They're going as fast as they can.”
“Why the hell weren't they prepped for immediate launch?” Closer to Cares' fighter now he could start making out details of the wreaked craft. It was a miracle that it had stayed together in one piece. One of the wings was missing entirety, the other was leaving behind a trail of debris as the forces generated by the crafts spinning slowly broke it apart. Her engine finally died, although whether that was from damage or because Cares had regained some control over her craft Marack didn't know.
“Erm.. We don't know why they aren't ready.” Marack swore. It was the first time they'd ever been called out in six months, he guessed they had just been lazy. They were about to get Cares killed.
“Cares, can you orientate your craft towards Palisade? We need to cut down the shuttle's transit time.” Sikes asked.
“Can't do anything.” Cares said, her voice coming in gasps now as the air rapidly thinned in her cockpit. “Captain, help.”
“Launch the SAR shuttle now Palisade, I don't care how ready they are.”
“Can't do that. Just tell Vali 4 to hold on.”
“Tell her yourself.” Marack shouted back.
“Captain...” Cares voice was faint. Once again Marack felt all his anger drain from his body, replaced with a cold fire that burned away everything that could cloud his judgment.
“Palisade, cancel the shuttle launch and prep your hanger for an emergency landing and re-compression.”
“What?” Sikes and the controller said simultaneously.
“Just do it.” Marack kept one hand on his throttle as he guided his craft towards Cares', closing the distance until they were neck and neck.
“You're going to use the maglocks on the bottom of your craft to latch onto her and guide her in?” Sikes picked up on his plan first.
“Cares.” Marack said, flicking his comm system to communicate with everyone again. “Make sure you're buckled in. This is going to be bumpy.”
“You can't do it. Her fighter doesn't have the power to land.”
“That's why I'm going to land both of us.” He started to shift out of his parallel course with Cares, bringing the top of his fighter to where he estimated her's would be in a few seconds time.
“Vali leader, should we cancel the SAR Shuttle?”
“Cancel it and prep a medical unit. Marack, you're going to do some dam
age when you latch on, it could be enough to wreak her.”
Marack bit his lip as Cares' fighter spin around his own craft. He let go of the throttle and put one finger on the button to activate the emergency maglocks on the top of his own fighter, just behind the canopy. He glanced upwards and was close enough to see Cares sitting there in her helmet and fight suit.
“Cares, you ready for this?” Marack said.
“Yes. Do it. I... there are cracks in my canopy, I don't know if it will hold.” Marack stayed calm but heard Sikes swore. If the canopy broke how long could Cares survive? Her flight suit and blast helmet wouldn't do a thing against the vacuum. He pushed the thought out of his head.
“Latching on in five.”
“Good look.” He heard Sikes say.
“Three...two...one...latching.” The two craft connected and he heard a gasp that was cut off almost instantly from Cares. Marack glanced up and saw that the collision, minor as is had been, was enough to shatter Cares' canopy. He decelerated, allowing the glass fragments to continue forward at their old speed until he was sure they were clear of Cares's cockpit then swung both fighters back to Palisade. Sikes was asking him something, but he couldn't make out the words. He had to keep reminding himself to breath.
Keeping his craft under control with one had he began plotting his course on his flight computer with another. He had to be fast. But going too fast would mean they couldn't slow down in time and both would slam into the hangers wall.
Something rocked his ship and Marack