A host of drones shot from the side of the battlecruiser, and these, too, fired on the Black Wraith.
This is turning into a very long day. Mara turned the turret to return fire.
Celene came through on the comm line. Suggestions, Commander?
We cant outrun them, Kell answered, dodging a volley of plasma fire. Cant outshoot them.
UnlessWhat kind of weapons does the Arcadia have?
One plasma gun, said Mara. And the shields cant take many hits. Im a scavenger, not a soldier. The magnetic tow is her best feature.
That caught Kells attention. Towing capacity?
Mara seemed to understand immediately. Definitely something as large as, say, a battlecruiser.
Over the secured comm, Celene chuckled. I like the direction this conversation is heading.
He sniped at the battlecruiser, darting close and then peeling back. As he hoped, the PRAXIS ship kept its attention on the Black Wraith, directing all its firepower at him. He swerved, dodged and shot, with Mara providing backup with her rotating gun. She took out half a dozen drones, their small, metal bodies exploding around the Black Wraiths hull.
He gritted his teeth as one shot from the battlecruiser nearly clipped his wing. Gunfire streamed around them.
As he hoped, the PRAXIS ship ignored the Arcadia . It was just a scavenger trawler. Nothing to attract their attention. The Black Wraith was the prize.
Celene, fly to the aft of the cruiser, Kell directed.
Copy that. A moment later, she announced, In position.
Mara understood his plan, then got on the comm line and quickly explained to Celene how to deploy the magnetic tow. Make sense?
Absolutely.
Do it, Kell commanded.
Aye, sir.
The battlecruiser suddenly listed as Arcadia s magnetic tow net fastened onto part of its aft fuselage. It tried to fight the net, but Maras words proved true. Arcadia had its hooks into the PRAXIS ship, hauling the much larger vessel around like a child pulling a toy.
Thats
it, baby, Mara whispered, viciously gleeful. Show those bastards what a scavenger can do.
The battlecruiser attempted to fire back, but Celene had positioned the Arcadia in the enemy ships small area of lowered defense, where fewer guns were located. She towed the battlecruiser up, exposing its vulnerable underside. As drones rushed toward the scavenger ship, Mara unleashed a barrage of gunfire, picking them off like digiskeet.
Kell kept his guns occupied. He raced toward the PRAXIS ship, searching its hull. The battlecruiser tried to shift in space to line its guns up on him, but the Arcadia held it in place. Yes, there. He bared his teeth in a brutal smile. And unleashed the Black Wraiths plasma guns, hammering into the battlecruisers side.
A bulwark collapsed beneath the onslaught. After a moment, the PRAXIS guns stopped. Hed damaged the main power to the weapons systems, and the enemy had no choice but to shut their weapons down.
But he wasnt finished. He was the sonic hammer. As drones swarmed around the Black Wraith,
he targeted the battlecruisers propulsion system. Mara held the drones back long enough for Kell to decimate the engines. The moment he destroyed them, he turned his weapons on the remaining drones, and soon, there was nothing left of the bots but debris.
Celene disengaged the tow net. The battlecruiser now drifted like a blind, declawed macskacat , unable to move. Defenseless.
Part of Kell demanded he blast the battlecruiser into atoms, but a single Black Wraith didnt have enough firepower to destroy the PRAXIS ship with one hitonly prolonged bombardment would do the job. Much as he wanted to wipe the damn battlecruiser off the star charts, he needed to get Mara, Celene and the Black Wraith to safety. And the fighter in him rebelled at the notion of attacking a powerless opponent. No honor in it.
The Arcadia came alongside the Black Wraith as he forced his blood to cool.
Youve earned yourself a few medals today, ladies.
Medals for everyone, agreed Celene.
And drinks. Mara had her own strong opinions. More valuable than medals.
Lets go home, said Kell.
Home. Mara spoke the word as if it was in another language. One she didnt understand.
He wondered if he could teach her its meaning. Would his home be hers? He could fly and win a hundred combat missions, yet he understood that there were some battles he could never win by force.
Chapter Eleven
Applause echoed as she, Kell and Lieutenant Jur emerged from their shipsa far different experience from Maras last encounter with 8th Wing. She felt uncharacteristically shy at being the object of so much celebratory attention.
As she stood beside the Black Wraith with Kell and Jur, people thronged around them in a sea of gray uniforms. The silence of space made their clapping jarring and loud, their eager faces too bright, too demanding. She felt herself shrink away, seeking peace. Kells arm curved around her shoulders.
Immediately, she felt the chaos within her calm, a sense of anchoring when she would have floated away.
He knew this, instinctively, knew what she needed. She looked at him as applause and shouts of congratulations thundered. He did not revel in the attention, but he didnt shun it, either. He looked like a man who expected to get the job done, and did exactly that. Tough, assured, and, to her eyes, achingly handsome. Familiar, yet wondrous.