The carrier dropped out of hyperspace in a flicker of pseudomotion, trailing smoke and debris.
Behind it, four little flashes of light burst into existence and immediately began spouting little darts of red and green fire at it, scoring deep marks in its hull.
'This is SC-226, requesting emergency aid,' said a very panicked sounding Cora. 'Pirates are on our tail and I don't know how much longer we can survive this.'
To underscore her point, the four starfighters chasing them attacked the carrier again. Cora looked at her comm station expectantly, then to her sensor readout, her eyes focused on the distant blip that was Enaru station, her hands itching to gun the engine, but she held back. When the silence dragged on, she called out again, 'Enaru station, please, we need your help.'
Static, and then, 'Starfighter Carrier 226, this is Enaru station,' said a tense voice over the comm. 'Stand by. Reinforcements en route.'
Cora grinned, slumping back in her seat, then sitting up a moment later, alert again. She yanked the throttle hard and felt the carrier respond to her command, shooting forward at its maximum speed, the inertial compensator struggled for a moment to catch up to the acceleration and she felt the force tugging at her, then slacken as it finally adjusted fully.
'Good work, Cora,' said Face from behind, patting her shoulder. 'Time for me to head below. Try not to damage her too much, but if it's unavoidable, well, at least she's done her job.' he patted the hull above his head. Cora smiled to herself. It was funny, she thought, about how he could feel so sentimental over a ship we had barely known, hadn't even lived in. That was Face, though, all strong emotion, memories floating around him like tangible things that you really could reach out and touch.
'I got this, Face,' she said reassuringly. 'She might be a bit beat up but I can fly her back out again, no worries.'
Face smiled down at her. 'I know you can do it,' he said, and left. Just as he left the cockpit, he shouted back, 'just make sure you don't leave the parking break on.'
Cora snorted, then turned her attention outwards, out into space and towards the rapidly approaching station, a disc shaped construction, hovering above the planet Enaru IV as if it were floating on top of the atmosphere. TIE fighters sped away from it, shooting towards her. She tensed, expecting them to start firing at her ship, but they simply flew past to engage the pirates to her aft. She watched the whole thing play out on her sensor display. The Uglies engaged them, as they were supposed to, even scoring a couple of kills, which surprised her. Not that her fellow Nexus weren't skilled pilots, but it's rare to get a good hit that early in a battle, not when both sides are expecting the engagement. The TIEs didn't waver, though, despite that setback, and kept their formations tight. Slowly, they drove off the pirates who, one by one, fled into hyperspace. The TIEs encircled her, providing her a safe escort.
'Carrier 226, said the same voice from earlier, ' reduce speed and land at Hangar 3. We've cleared the area for you.'
'Roger that, control,' replied Cora as a navpoint popped up on her guidance system. 'Coming in now.' she adjusted her course but didn't slow down.
She had run through this moment in her head dozens of times, practiced it in a makeshift similar that the twins had rigged for her, but even so she couldn't help but feel some trepidation. It wasn't every day that you purposefully crashed a ship.
'Carrier 226,' said station control, 'reduce speed now. You're coming in too fast.'
Cora yawned. She hadn't slept well the night before, and the stress was taking it out of her. She shook her head, trying to get the right edge to her voice before the replied. 'I can't,' she screamed. 'Controls aren't responding.' she flicked a switch on a rewired side panel. The ship shuddered as an explosion rocked the aft of the ship, right by the engine. A nice present from Kai, just to sell it. She was sure that he knew what he was doing, but when you're only a few hundred metres from a very large and solid looking station, it was hard to maintain 100% confidence. And as large as the station was, and as large as the hangar looked, she was still flying a several hundred metre long ship at maximum speed. She checked the buckles of her safety harness, making sure it was completely secure as doubts starting gnawing at her and she had the very strong urge to pull up, to abort this stupid plan.
Too late.
As the nose of the carrier breached the hangar shield, she fired up all her reversing thrusters, the steering yoke going wild in her hand and she gritted her teeth, putting all her strength in controlling it, then nearly falling out of her harness as the nose touched the hangar floor. She slammed a fist onto her display, killing one engine entirely and she felt, more than saw, the carrier turning in the hangar. A harsh, metallic screeching filled the air around her as the hull tore up beneath her, the atmosphere in the bridge heating up and she felt her face being covered in sweat. Her whole body vibrated from the impact and she could barely see anything, but she kept hold of the yoke as if it was the key to saving her life, because right now, it was. From outside the windows she could see the far wall getting closer and closer. She felt her whole body trying to grab hold of the ship, trying to force it to stop, begging it to stop.
And then, it was all over. There was no Screeching. No movement. Alarms blared at her, but they were so much background noise and she paid them no attention. She stood on shaky legs to look out the window. Red warning lights flashed outside. Smoke rose to obscure her vision, but leaning forward, just on the edge of the window, she could see the comforting warm blue glow of the hangar shield. She wasn't entirely sure she believed her eyes, but she had done it. She had crash landed the ship, almost perfectly. Her legs felt weak and suddenly they gave way and she fell back in her seat, but she didn't care. She had done it.
And then she bolted upright, remembering her mission. She punched a button on the control panel to her right and from somewhere deeper in the ship, a rude blaring alarm sounded, then something fell off the ship. She stood up again to look out the window, knowing she wouldn't be able to see anything just yet, but she needed to be sure. After a few moments she saw the Nexus running across the hangar bay. A quick head count told her that everyone had survived and, by the looks of their strides, unharmed. She settled back in her seat and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
There she stayed - for how long, she wasn't sure.
Then her attention turned to the comm. She bit her lip, hesitating, then leaned forward. She fiddled with the controls, then keyed it on. 'They're in.'
