Gennad pulled his Y-wing out of its wide loop and came back around, leading the two flights of ships away from the crippled heavy cruiser.
Sala's group moved to join them as the squadron regrouped and flew a lazy patrol around surrounding space.
S5's fighter had been badly damaged during the battle and lay floating in space among its own debris while the Kiprin Renegade moved in to lend support as the strike force began its clean up operations. The maintenance ship's tractor beam caught the derelict ship and dragged it into its hold before it turned about and made ready to depart the system.
The heavy cruiser began to move, slowly picking up speed as the rest of the strike force moved to take up positions around it.
"Here's to a job well done, the alliance..."
The Vulture's captain's words were cut off by the emergence of an Imperial Star Destroyer coming out of hyperspace mid system. The warship advanced on the fleeing rebel forces and began bleeding TIE fighters into space.
"Sith spawn!" Rozhdenst swore as he jerked back on his stick, his Y-wing rapidly climbing as he broke away from the formation. "Scavenger's on me! We've got to keep those TIE fighters away from the cruiser."
The Star Destroyer came on fast as four squadrons of TIEs raced towards the rebel ships escorting the bartered heavy cruiser.
The rest of Scavenger squadron followed suit, falling in behind the Commander as they turned about and came right on at the incoming TIEs.
"What're we doing sir? These tubs won't last long against those imps" Sala protested. "Those TIEs will run rings around us before we can even get a lock on em."
"Stuff it!" Gennad snapped. "We don't have to beat them; just keep them away from the cruiser long enough for it to make the jump." And even then, he knew that was asking a lot.
Slade's rifle fell to the deck as he instinctively leapt out of his seat. "What in blazes?"
"Lieutenant, we have incoming enemy ships just drop out of hyperspace behind us. Rapidly approaching on our six, sir!" one of his team reported from a nearby terminal.
Slade grit his teeth and clenched a fist. "Bring up our rear shields and divert all auxiliary power to the engines. Get us out of here!" he practically screamed. His thoughts raced as he began formulating a plan. Where had that destroyer come from? There was no Star Destroyer stationed at Centares or any of its neighbours in a close enough proximity to make it here in such a short time. Then the thought occured to him, they had been so busy looking at what ships were stationed nearby they hadn't taken into consideration any ships that might be nearby for other reasons, such as providing an escort or being on patrol. He slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair. "Blast!"
Gennad led Scavenger squadron in a head on attack at the incoming TIEs. Outnumbered four to one the rebel starfighters didn't stand a chance in a pitched battle against the much smaller, faster and more agile ships; but that wasn't what the commander had in mind.
"Assume phalanx formation!" he said, flicking a switch on his command console to activate his torpedo launcher. "Ready proton torpedoes and hold your fire until I give the command."
A chorus of comm clicks confirmed the order as the Y-wings closed on the TIEs. The imperial fighters grew bigger in front of them as they grew from the size of distant specks to tiny capital Hs as the Y-wings finished sliding into formation and the two sides raced to meet in a deadly game of chicken. They hit maximum firing range.
"Hold your fire," Gennad said.
The TIEs steadily grew in size until Gennad could clearly see the eyeball shaped cockpit at the fighters' centre.
"Hold!"
The gap continued to close as the TIEs distinctive whine filled their ears as they two groups of fighters raced towards each other.
"Hold!"
The TIE fighters opened fire and sprayed the formation of Y-wings with green laser fire.
Gennad junked and jinked as he weaved his fighter about to dodge the incoming waves of deadly green bolts. Many streaked past his ship while others impacted with his shields with flashes of light as he grit his teeth and held a death grip on the yoke.
The opposing forces of starfighters came head to head as they got so close the commander could almost see the pilot in the TIE coming right for him.
"Now!" He declared, launching a pair of proton torpedoes at the enemy ships.
The rest of the squadron followed suit as a barrage of two dozen proton torpedoes hurled themselves into the swarm of incoming TIEs.
The torpedoes erupted in a fiery inferno that vaporised an entire squadron of TIEs in the span of several heartbeats. At such high speed and that close range it was virtually impossible for the fighters to escape from the torpedoes wrath. The surviving TIE fighters took evasive action, diving, climbing or swinging aside of the incoming wave of fire as seconds later the Y-wings emerged out the other side of the rapidly dying firestorm like a flock of Phoenixes.
A chorus of cheers came over the comm as the Scavengers celebrated their successful manoeuvre.
Even Commander Rozhdenst couldn't suppress a smile as they came about in a wide arching circle to come around for another pass at the enemy.
"Reform and follow me Scavengers!" Rozhdenst ordered. "We took them by surprise the first time, but that manoeuvre won't work again. Engage em where you can, but don't stop to get wrapped up in a dog fight. We're headed out now we've managed to distract them for a bit."
The rest of the squadron acknowledged his order as the fighters converged on his position and took up a tighter formation.
The scattered TIE fighters came screeching around for another attack run on the Y-wings; swooping at them from every direction at once as the smaller, faster and more agile fighters now gained the advantage. They were suddenly all over the Y-wings like mynocks on exposed power cables; coming from above, below, left and right as they swarmed over the sluggish rebel fighters.
Sala swore as her display lit up with warnings and a klaxon alarm started screeching at her that her shields were dangerously low. Despite her best efforts she was unable to dodge the relentless barrage of enemy fire that came from multiple directions at once. Her astromech droid gave a bone chilling shriek as a bolt punctured through the dilapidated shields scored a hit, blowing the droid's head apart. "S3, my shields are down!" she cried.
"Mine too! And mine!" came the replies as she realised their situation was indeed dire.
The Sullustian, Nein Numb, S11, squarked a protest in her native language no one quite understood.
Trax grit his teeth as he yanked his yoke up, following the path of a TIE as it climbed through space past his canopy. He pulled the trigger and fired a spray of shots at it and cheered inwardly as several hit, tearing holes in and shearing off its port solar array as it fell into an uncontrollable spin, veered off to its starboard and collided with another TIE in an explosion of fire and flying debris.
Scavenger squadron raced back towards the rebel strike force, the heavy cruiser picking up speed as it prepared to make the jump to hyperspace.
Gennad watched with a sinking feeling in his stomach as the Star Destroyer opened fire on the fleeing ship; a devastating salvo from its heavy turbolaser batteries smashing into the ship's shields as they buckled and struggled to hold under the onslaught of the mighty warship's guns. While Scavenger squadron attempted to keep its flight of TIE fighters distracted the Star Destroyer pummled the cruiser with a first and then a second deadly barrage of turbolaser fire.
One of the Y-wings weaved desperately to and fro in an attempt to shake its pursuer. "I've got one on my tail.....I can't shake him!," the desperate pilot cried as the TIE hunting him opened fire. A spray of incoming bolts littered space around the ship with bursts of green energy plowing into the fighter, tearing apart its starboard engine and blowing chunks out of its hull.
The pilot screamed and slammed his fist on the ejection button, more out of reflex than a concious decision. The ship's cockpit detached from the starfighter with a burst of flame as the rest of the ship was disintergrated in a hail of fire. The force of the blast pitched the cockpit through space, sending it hurling end over end as it was thrown violently.
With TIE fighters swarming all over them their chances of survival seemed slim. Rozhdenst tightened his grip on his yoke as he swerved to avoid a rampaging TIE that came close to colliding with his ship. A lump rose in his throat as he realised this was it, his squadron was going to be torn apart by TIEs and there was nothing he could do about it.
It was then with the destruction of the squadron imminent that their salvation came. Space lit up with a cascade of red bursts of laser fire scattering the TIE fighters, tearing half a dozen to pieces in the span of several heartbeats as others took evasive action and tried to avoid the hail of incoming fire. The Vulture came screaming into the starfighter battle, the Lancer class cruiser's dozens of heavy laser cannons firing barrage after barrage of crimson fire as they picked off TIE fighters and sent the rest running.
A ragged cheer went up from the pilots of Scavenger squadron as flashes of flame, signaling the destruction of futher TIEs, erupted around them as the volley's of fire from the Vulture scored hit after hit; the seemingly chaotic counter attack being in actuality measured and targetted as her gunner crews methodolically picked off the maurading imperial fighters.
A few of them began attack runs on the small capital ship, spraying volleys of plasma down her sides that were swallowed up by her powerful shields. Bursts of red light flew back at their attackers as the gunners retaliated, scoring hits on a couple that at close range, vapourised the small, fragile fighters.
Then as one, the TIEs turned and fled for the safety of their mother ship.
The Kyprin Renegade followed close behind and leapt to the aid of the pilot that had gone EV. The pod of the cockpit was picked up by its tractor beam and nestled safetly within its cargo bay. The maintenance ship slowed to collect the evac pod before picking up speed once more as the rest of the squadron formed up around it and continued accelerating to make the jump to hyperspace.
The captain of the Vulture hailed Lieutenant Auryn once more. "We're all accounted for and ready to make the jump. What's your status?"
"Go right ahead Captain. We're right behind you," the Lieutenant replied.
"Copy that. See you at the rendezvous."
"I'll see you there Captain," Slade said, sweeping his gaze over the bridge. He wasn't quite sure they'd make it after all.
Scavenger squadron and the Renegade formed up alongside the Vulture as they fled from the Star Destroyer.
The mighty warship's smaller guns fired a volley at the group of rebel ships, the fighters easily able to dodge aside of them while a number impacted with the Vulture's shields.
"Time to high tail it out of here, Captain," Gennad said. "S1 to Scavanger squadron prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark," he added, addressing his squadron.
The captain agreed and seconds later the Vulture leapt to hyperspace, disappearing as it entered another realm of existence.
"Three.....two....one...Mark!"
Rozhdenst flicked the switch and the stars stretched before his canopy as time seemed to freeze, before with a blast of of light stars raced past and his Y-wing leapt into hyperspace, followed by the rest of the squadron.
Lieutenant Auryn watched from the cruiser's bridge as the rest of the strike force leapt into hyperspace, leaving them alone as the star destroyer continued its relentless pursuit. The ship shook with the kenetic energy of another barrage of turbolaser fire smashing into its shields as they wavered and threatened to fall.
"Direct all the power we can spare into the rear shields!" he commanded. "Cut power and life support systems to everything but the bridge and the main hold."
"Sir? If there's any SFS crew members hiding elsewhere on the ship, they'll be killed!" one of his men protested.
He nodded. "I know; that's unfortunate, but we need to take the risk and hope none of them were that stupid."
The soldier acknowledged the order and set about carrying it out.
"Prepare us to make the jump to hyperspace," he ordered, gripping the sides of the command chair. "How long until we're ready to jump?"
"Sir, thirty seconds! We're gathering speed and are almost ready."
With nothing to do but wait, Slade shuffled uncomfortably in his seat; the adrenaline pumping through his veins making the situation almost unbearable. He grit his teeth and steeled his resolve as the cruiser charged through space; the star destroyer following them reading its weapons for another salvo.
A tremendous burst of energy erupted from the warship, lighting up space between the two ships as lethal beams of superheated energy poured from weapon's emplacements. Many of the bolts shot past the ship, lighting up the area around them like a light show as more lanced the shields, pummeling them into submission as they wavered and finally fell. The ship rocked as a few of them got through and scored hits on the hull.
Slade grit his teeth and tightened his grip on his seat as the chrono continued to count down to when they could make the jump.
"Ten seconds, Lieutenant!"
"Sir, the star destroyer is preparing to open fire once more!" someone cried out in alarm.
"Get us out of here!" Slade screamed as the star destroyer opened fire with a barrage of turbolaser fire that would devistate the helpless cruiser and blow it to pieces.
He watched helplessly as the salvo of fire rocketed across space towards them. He inhaled sharply as the first bolts in the incoming cataclysm fell upon the ship; just as it lurched forwards and the viewport burst into a stretching field of stars as the ship leapt into hyperspace.