Page 52 of Starfighter’s Salvation

Twelve Scythe fighters closed on the trench from three directions, like they'd been expecting us to make this exact move.

“Contacts,” I said. “Twelve.”

“Twelve?” Cassia's voice carried to me through Gina's comm. No doubt, the Titan was yelling.

“Yes. Twelve.”

“Can we outrun them?” Gina asked.

“No.”

“Outfly them?”

“Ask me again in three minutes.”

The damaged thruster screamed at me through the deck's heavy plating. So many fighters. Two climbed over the rim to cut us off. The ship could not win in a dogfight. She had one cannon, thick armor, and limited engine thrust. I used the trench, riding the walls so close one mistake would kill us all. As I hoped, the first fighter followed too close. I turned around a rock spire with less than a meter under the starboard wing. The Scythe tried to match the move, clipped the stone, and broke apart against the wall.

One down... Two more broke off from their formation. One climbed to get a better firing angle while the other dropped behind us. I opened the defensive cannon’s rear arc and fired. The first shot missed, and the second did not. Two.

The fighter above us raced ahead and sent a blast into the trench wall ahead, bringing rock down across our path.

I lifted the nose just enough to clear the rockfall. One of their mounted guns fired the moment we cleared the rocks. I rolled the ship and the shot passed beneath us and hit the fighter chasing us instead. Three.

“Did they just shoot their own man?” Brennix's voice came through my comms and I checked my monitors. The Titan was strapping into the defense cannon's manual control seat. I wasn't going to argue. Elite Starfighter Titans were known for their uncanny ability to do maximum damage to enemies. The computer targeting system was adequate, but sometimes instinct was better.

“Yes.”

“I like your plan.”

“I did not plan that.”

“Then I like your luck.”

Another Scythe fighter fired at us from above, and I rolled, using the armored belly to take the shot. The hit knocked the port thruster to forty percent. Gina swore over the comm.

“Status?” I asked.

“Keep doing whatever insane thing you’re doing.”

She had steel where other people kept panic, and her voice stayed steady even with nine fighters on our tail.

The trench narrowed ahead and our escape route would take us within throwing distance of two more mounted gun batteries. We weren't dodging that.

I switched over to Gina's private comm. “Gina, I love you. You are perfect. I need you to know that.” The words came out of me rougher than I intended. I had already chosen the route that put the maximum about of armor between the guns and her body, and I knew it wasn't going to be enough.

“Don't you dare do this right now." Her steel was gone, replaced by feminine fury.

Enemy fire struck the rear plate. “Gina⁠—”

“We are not dying today. So shut up and get us out of here."

There was nothing else to say. I hated that the only thing I could do was fly straight at those mounted guns and trust her to survive what came through the hull. I rolled out of the turn and flew directly into the line of fire with a full squadron of Scythe fighters on our ass and nowhere else to go.

Brennix fired and took out two fighters that had been right on our tail.

We weren't dead yet. “Brace!” My command flooded the entire ship.

Both gun batteries opened fire. I dropped the ship beneath the first burst. The second hit port armor, and the ship shook. Warning lights filled the board. Atmosphere held. Medical power held. Thrusters held, but smoke entered the cockpit from the port service channel.