Nexu squadron gave the First Order hell, but in the end they could only run.
'Everyone pull back to the Nest,' yelled Face, wincing as his Z-'cepter's shields took a direct hit from a passing TIE fighter. He checked his diagnostic readout and grimaced. One more shot and he'd be completely defenceless. 'Tarrik, plot a course out of system.
'Yessah,' said Tarrik, his voiced strained. Face dipped his starboard wings to get a clear view other the cruiser and saw TIEs were swarming around it. The cruisers cannons were blaring out, rotating every which way, but there was only so much the targeting computer could do and it was increasingly obvious how pitiful they were doing in the circumstances, struggling to score even a single hit. Face checked his sensor display and felt his alarm grow. The three star destroyers who had vomited their full complements of TIE squadrons at them had decided to bear down on them, perhaps sensing that the cruiser was a target worth capturing rather than destroying. 'Time to leave, Nexus,' he said over the comm. 'That means you, too, Two Flight.'
While one and three flights had kept their discipline and pulled back to the cruiser, Luna, Ka'iulani and even Fenn had become devils possessed, and were this any other time Face would have admired their tenacity, but now wasn't the time for it. 'Luna,' he called again. 'We need to go.'
Luna ignored him and, as he reached the Nest, he had no choice but to focus on clearing the area around him and hope that they could get back in time.
'Another ship dropping out of hyperspace,' announced Tarrik.
Great. Just please don't be another star destroyer. 'Identify,' said Face, sending a burst of fire at a duo of TIEs, dissuading them from their attack run on the cruiser's engines. You're welcome, Rana.
'I can't get a good look,' said Tarrik. 'I don't suppose you could clear space up a bit for me, could you? It's getting a bit hard to see outside.'
'I'll do my best,' replied Face, rolling his eyes. Time to show these young dogs a few old tricks, he thought. 'Turn off the cannons, Tarrik. One Flight, follow my lead.' without waiting for acknowledgement, he steered his ship up and around the centre of the cruiser, circling around the body in one tight loop, spraying laser bolts without bothering to aim. He grinned as he saw the TIEs scatter. 'Three Flight, dock. We'll keep them off your back,' he said, then angled his starfighter closer to the bridge, performing the same manoeuvre. It was designed to buy time, not get kills, and soon enough the enemy realised this, and bore down on them again.
'Any time now, Luna,' he muttered to himself, straining against the g-forces that his starfighter's inertia compensator couldn't manage. As if she had heard, Luna raced in with her X-Defender, flanked by Ka'iulani's B-wing and Fenn's Jedi starfighter hybrid, tearing through a cluster of oncoming TIEs.
'You head back to the rack, Face,' said Luna, her voice taut. 'We'll keep these off your backs.'
Face bridled at that, but knew now wasn't the time. 'You heard her, One Flight,' he said, and suited action to his words, spinning out of his arc and bringing his fighter down under the cruiser, lining up with his spot on the fighter rack. He waited until his droid, Ton, had ejected safely into the rack before he himself had clambered out, climbing through the tight tubing and up into the cargo hold. He raced to the cockpit and slid into the co-pilot seat beside Tarrik, landing heavily.
'Coords locked in,' said Tarrik tersely.
Face nodded. 'Send them to Two Flight, then get us out of here,' he said, turning his attention to the targeting computer. The signatures of the star destroyers loomed large on the display, but he put them out of his mind and turned his attention the nearby fighters. He keyed the intercomm. 'Rana, Garan, I need you to get us out of here faster than fast.'
