“Report!”

Harrison’s fingers wove quick lines and punched through strings of holographic telemetry. Tiny wireframe Seindrives lit up in a three dimensional display of the Hok’s hangars and reconverted cargo bay, each model cast in the colors of it’s respective squadron. “Harker and Glars both report in and stowed, with one fighter still on the vector pad.” He glanced back at Faith. “Osiris lost it’s left advance– Lieutenant Benton. Horus got lucky– no losses.”

“And the pilots from the Von Der Tann?”

“Harker’s squadron brought back three rigs, all too damaged to come back under their own power, but salvageable. He only managed a quick sweep before things got hot and he had to come back. He’s willing to go back for another sweep if–”

“No time.” Faith made a decisive gesture. “Kerrigan! How is the ship?”

“The plating is taking a beating.” Kerrigan stated. “We’ve given almost as good as we’ve gotten, but we’re already suffering breaches on multiple decks. Casualties rising. Want the list?”

“Maybe later.” Faith’s eyes shot back to the screen. Bulkheads would save their ass all the way to the core of the ship, but there was still her crew to consider– how much more of a beating could they take? How many was she willing to sacrifice to deal a blow to the Coralate, no matter how meaningless or insignificant. How many would she trade for the lives of Virek’s crew?

“Put our least damaged side into the fire and sound the retreat.” Faith finally managed. She turned her gaze on Baker, watched as the young woman put out the call. “Damaged rigs and survivors from the Von get priority. Tell Novikov and Mondego to keep their fighters out in the thick of it as long as they can, watch everyone else’s asses, but no heroics.”

“Sir.” Baker nodded. Faith turned away, caught the tail end of a burst of light as it left the Hok and burnt a swathe across the scorched and limping bulk of the Coralate warship. Lances of light struck back, hitting plating and washing away layers upon layers of now plasmatic metal– and beyond it all, that massive rip in the fabric of space pouring more and more warships into the system. In another ten minutes, they’d be in firing range too, and then the Hok wouldn’t have a prayer.

“N-No!” Captain Lazar sat up suddenly, regaining just enough composure to swallow and shoot a frightened glace back at the Admiral. “We don’t have time! Leave the pilots! We’ve done all we can! Make the jump now!”

Harrison glanced back worriedly. Faith stepped up instantly.

“Belay that order, Lieutenant.” She shot Lazar a critical look. “Welcome back, Captain.”

“Admiral!” He pleaded, eyes darting, panicked. “We have to get the hell out of this system! We have to go, now!” He jabbed a finger at the display. “If those ships get here before we make our jump, there won’t be a Wu Ang Hok for our fighters to come back to! We should never have come here! We should–!” He swung around, eyes darting for Harrison. “What are you waiting for? I order you to get us the hell out of this system now!”

“Ignore him, Lieutenant.” Faith bit off. “Captain, you are way out of line.”

“With all due respect, Admiral.” He managed, voice shaking somewhere between fear and rage. “This is my ship!”

“You lost the right to give orders in this battle the instant you froze up and forced me to take command.” She shot back. “Now sit the hell down before I put a formal reprimand in your file and have you brought before a court of inquiry that will strip you of your rank and have you running comms in a tower on a cargo trawler again.”

Lazar stuttered, gave one final attempt to speak, finger stabbing at her for an accusatory instant, and then he turned away shakily, collapsing lopsidedly into his seat.

“Harrison.” Faith barked. “Status.”

Harrison’s mouth opened, worked silent in the pause. Faith’s piercing stare moved to fix on him, and he turned back to the holographic console immediately.

“Ah... uh... O-Osiris is in, Horus is in, eight fighters from the Von, including the salvaged ones. Anubis and Bast are angling for the pad.” He paused, worked his fingers through the projection, swallowed. “Amon Ra and Isis are still out there, as per your order, and...” He paused, blinked. “One of the squadrons from the Von.” He paused again, glanced up. “Minerva squadron.”

“Minerva Squadron?” Faith paused, shook her head. “What the hell are they still doing out there? I said survivors have priority!” She paused for a moment, eyes locked with Harrison’s. “Who’s the LC!?”

“Uh–”

“A name. I want a name, Lieutenant!” She shot back.

“Lieutenant...” He bared his teeth in frustration, leaning into the projection, fingers working quickly. “Lieutenant Commander Tessa Eisenherz.”

Faith wasted no time. She rounded on the comm officer instantly. “Baker! Get Eisenherz on the horn, and tell her to get her squadron in the bay A-SAP.” The young lieutenant nodded quickly, and the Admiral stole an absent glance at the monitor. “As much as I appreciate the support, we haven’t got time for this kind of heroics.”

“We’re all going to die.” Lazar muttered.

“Shut up.” Faith responded immediately. “Harrison, start the pre-jump procedures. As soon as everyone is onboard and all the rigs are secured, I want us folding space out of here.”