Alen contemplated what to do now. With the balance of power now being two destroyers versus a destroyer and a station, the odds were currently in their favor, but with the arrival of the as-yet-unknown ship, that would probably shift again soon. The question was, how far out was the Sybil? Would they be able to hide behind the station's shields until then?

The fact that they didn't show an incoming arrival from the Sybil's location wasn't too surprising. They were probably jumping to a nearby location before hot jumping in to avoid revealing their hand. However, that also meant Alen was working off a lot more guesswork than he liked.

Still, at this point, they'd probably taken enough risks for now. It was time to play it safe for a bit if only to let his people calm their nerves briefly before the next emergency kicked in. "Put all non-essential power into shields and prioritize shooting down their ordinance. Use the station's shields to completely block one of the destroyer's lines of fire and focus on the other. Let's do this by the book for a bit, see if we can't outlast them."

Commander Reid nodded. "Aye, Captain."

-

Commander Simons looked over the readout in dismay before turning to the communications officer. "What do you mean Central doesn't have any available backup? We're dealing with a literal fleet of pirates! What even is the point of Central if they can't help deal with threats like this?"

The communications officer could only shrug, not that Simons expected an answer from the guy. It's not like any of this was his fault, but it still looked hopeless. If not for the mercenary destroyer that had been nearby, they'd have already fallen. He remembered seeing the ship and thinking it was irresponsible for anyone other than an official navy to have that kind of ship, but now he was wishing there were more of them available to hire for protection.

Still, as well as they'd done so far, it looked like they might be in over their heads. With yet another ship incoming, and a larger one at that, and no reinforcements coming from Central, it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. Should they just surrender now? Would anyone survive if they did? At this point, the pirates might just wipe them out to make an example. Why was Central sitting back and doing nothing?!?

Simons cursed. He'd heard the pirates were getting worse and worse out here, but this was ridiculous. Attacking a fully functional station, one backed up by a destroyer at that, and they still have overwhelming power to deal with it. Where were they even getting this kind of equipment?

Right now, the destroyer was playing it safe, not that Simons could blame them. They'd already taken some huge risks and gotten some incredible results when, by all rights, they should have just packed up and left.

Right now, the outcome of this nightmare all depended on that mystery ship. Simons turned to another officer. "What's the ETA on the late arrival?"

The officer looked at his terminal. "About thirty seconds, commander."

Thirty seconds. Their fates would be determined in less time than it took to boil an egg. The command suit fell silent in anticipation. After the longest thirty seconds of his life, the officer spoke aloud again. "The ship is arriving, sir. It's a..." He paused, Simons glared in his direction, then the officer spoke up again. "It's a battleship, sir..."

A battleship? How did a bunch of pirates get their hands on something like that? What should they do? What could they do? It was time to give up.

Simons turned to the communications officer to tell him to signal their surrender, but the communications officer spoke up first. "Sir, it's the Laughing Comet. They request that we allow them to retreat within our shields but not to surrender just yet. They claim to have reinforcements on the way."

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Simons blinked. Was it possible? Could they have something that could counter two destroyers and a battleship? It seemed impossible, but what other choice did they have? He was just about ready to surrender to someone he was reasonably sure would kill them anyway, so if there was even the slightest chance, he had to go with it.

Simons nodded to the officer. "Let them in and tell them we'll hold out as long as possible. But their reinforcements better be close. I don't think we can hold on much longer..."

The officer nodded and began relaying his words.

-

Alen was back to watching numbers and pretending like that could affect anything. The two pirate destroyers had pulled back out of effective firing range, content to let the battleship pummel them into submission. It was a sound strategy and one that he had no counter to. Even if he was stupid enough to try a micro-jump to bring him in range of the battleship and, by some miracle, survived long enough to get his shields up and try to out-maneuver the big guns, the two destroyers would take him out before he could cause any effective damage.

Instead, he watched the readings as the station's shields slowly destabilized. They were clearly pouring every ounce of power available into them. If he had to guess, they'd even cut off life support to several levels just to eke out a little more juice, but in a one-sided fight like this, that just delayed the inevitable slightly.

Soon, holes started appearing in the station's shields. The Laughing Comet did its best to maneuver to cover said holes, but it was a large station, and even a destroyer couldn't cover it all.

That was when the ops officer spoke up. "Sir, we've got a short-range incoming. But it's small. Barely more than a shuttle..."

A shuttle? What in the world could that be? But before he could give it much thought, the small vessel made its appearance. It looked like a cobbled-together scrap heap, but almost as soon as it appeared, it began flying and flying fast, right toward the battleship.

It was as fast as a missile and a lot more maneuverable. Alen was reasonably sure there was no pilot, as any inertia dampeners that could fit on that thing would not be able to handle those kinds of maneuvers. The destroyers couldn't keep up, and even though the battleship fired a veritable wall of short-range weaponry in its direction, the craft seemed to effortlessly weave through the firepower headed its way. Something the station couldn't replicate as its shields finally failed under the barrage of the larger cannons, leaving only the Laughing Comet to stand between it and any incoming fire, and it could only withstand maybe one or two barrages at most from those cannons.

The comms officer looked up from his console. "Sir, that small ship is sending out a powerful signal. I can't tell what it is, but it's practically lighting up space around itself like some sort of beacon..."

The ops officer spoke over the comms officer. "Sir, we've got another big one incoming. Judging by the read I'm getting, it's the Sybil, but they're practically on top of the battleship. It looks like they're gonna collide!"

Then the comms officer spoke up again. "I'm getting a signal from the small vessel for you, Captain!"

Looking back and forth between the two, Alen responded to the only bit of information he could do anything about. "Open up a channel to the ship."

When the comms activated, rather than receiving an image or a voice, the speakers immediately projected loud, chaotic noise. Alen covered his ears and shouted. "Cut the signal! Now!"

The comms officer, who was working with one hand while covering one of his ears with the other, shook his head. "No good captain! I can't! Something is brute forcing its way into our system!"

In the middle of the chaos, several things happened in rapid succession. The small vessel crashed into the battleship's shields, obliterating itself. The Sybil appeared on top of the battleship, with maybe a dozen meters separating them. Its forward momentum pushed it so close that once its shields activated, they overwhelmed the smaller battleships. Finally, the Sybil opened fire, obliterating the battleship within seconds of its appearance.

It was an impossibly precise jump, making even Alen's previous attempt look safe in comparison. How had they pulled it off? Then he realized the small ship must have acted as a beacon!

As soon as it occurred to him, image transmitters on the bridge activated, and one of Sybil's AIs, the pirate, appeared before him, laughing. "Now, that was a good bit of flying, if I do say so myself! Sorry about hijacking your system just now, but I needed to get out of that sloop in a hurry and didn't think you'd mind, seeing as we were saving your hides and all!"