Salvador's forte was dual wielding. He'd tried it with every type of gun and every combination of guns. He thought he knew everything there was to know about fighting with two weapons at once.

But then, he'd never been in a space battle.

Salvador laughed wildly as purple energy blasts lanced out, exploding a handful of drones into shrapnel. "Oh, ho ho, yes! This is the way to fight!" He whipped the fire control sticks over, tracking another cluster of drones. "So much power!"

"Make good use of it!" Maya warned, firing her own guns. "They're thick enough to walk on out here!"

"Yeah, but they've got nothing for maneuverability," Gaige snorted. She dodged around a cloud of debris and her own lasers speared through a cluster of bots. "Ha! Got another bunch!"

"I am loving these guns!" Salvador crowed. "Fifty-seven kills already! I'm gonna start carrying these around!"

[Screw the drones, has anyone got a read on the transport?!] Axton yelled. [I can't pick her up through all this fire!]

[Thee-one-five from your bearing,] Cassidy called back. The Pearl raced by overhead, twisting wildly as it evaded and returned fire with the warship. [I'll try to tap them into our transmissions.]

[Sarah! Sarah, come in! We're cutting 'em down out here, just hang on!]

[Thanks for the assist, Ax, but I think it's too little too late,] the female voice replied grimly. [Weapons are almost used up, shields are down to twelve percent, and we're starting to get instabilities in the drive system. We can't do any more good in this fight, and we won't survive much longer as it is!]

"Can you get out?" Maya called out, firing another salvo. "If we clear a path, can you make it to the planet?"

[Who are you?]

"Never mind that, can you make it?!"

Something that sounded nastily like an explosion crackled over the radio. [No choice but to try!] The battered transport's engines sputtered, turning the ship's nose towards the blue sphere below. [You clear a path between us and the planet, I'll go for an emergency landing!]

[We're closer, we've got it!] They watched as the Osprey swung around the transport, gunning for the drone cloud between it and the planet. Several groups of machines blasted apart, and the transport began to move-

Salvador lunged at the radio. "Ax, watch behind you!"

The Osprey's fire had all been directed forward, dedicated to clearing a path. A single drone was outside their firing arc, and it streaked towards the shuttle's port side with all its speed.

Zero threw the shuttle into a dive, engines burning against space. The drone missed the shuttle's body, but crashed into the tail end, sending the Osprey spinning.

[No good.] The woman's voice was controlled but disappointed. [The gap's not big enough, and more drones are moving in.]

"You guys all right?!"

[Some engine damage, And we failed to clear the way!] Zero reported angrily. [It's up to you, Red!]

Gaige exhaled sharply. "Right. Hang on, guys!" The ship surged forward as she rammed full power to the engines.

[What are you doing?!] Now it was shock and disbelief filling the woman's voice. [If a drone rams you while you're moving at that speed-]

"They won't," Gaige cut her off. "Guns forward, guys! Make this count!"

"Oh, we got this one!" Salvador leaned on the trigger and filled space with laserfire. "Everything must die!"

Maya said nothing, her eyes focused on the wave of enemies around them. Drones fell under the combined fire like wheat before a scythe.

"One more cluster!" Gaige cut loose with her forward mounted guns, and the last grouping of drones detonated. "The way's clear, but there's more coming in! Get out of here before they get a lock!"

[Behind y-]

A blast of green laserfire stabbed the transport's side, throwing it into a tailspin and cutting off their transmission. Gaige threw the shuttle into a hard spin, searching for the source of the fire... and found it.

The warship hung overhead, a small gun pivoting away from the crashing transport. Its big guns were already glowing with energy as they charged.

The Red Tail's daring move had cleared the way for the transport, but the warship had caught up to them. They were directly beneath its cannons.

A small, disbelieving laugh forced its way out of Maya's throat. "Looks like Ax was wrong."

Salvador leaned on his gun's trigger, but the warship didn't even seem to notice his fire. "We gotta get clear, hermana!"

"I'm trying! We're dead center of their firing arc!"

[Hang on, Mom! I'm moving to-]

The warship fired. A cascade of energy blazed towards the tiny, vulnerable shuttle-

"No."

The stream of green energy split like water around a rock. The space around the shuttle was filled with eye-searing light, but the lethal torrents of energy bypassed the Red Tail entirely, not even grazing its shields.

Gaige's jaw dropped open. "Holy-"

The lasers expended their charge, the green light fading as it raced harmlessly away, but the warship wasn't finished with them yet. The glow began to flare back to life-

"I said NO."

A massive sphere of energy, nearly as big as the Pearl itself, flared around the warship's center. Gaige stared in disbelief as the drones all around them suddenly flew at the warship, many of them clearly struggling against some massive force.

There was no resisting this. Hundreds of metal spheres unwillingly rammed their mothership, smashing into brilliant explosions and cratering the warship's midsection. As the last of the drones unwillingly crashed to their destruction, the energy sphere pulsed violently, and the biggest explosion yet ripped outward from the warship's hull. The blast threw the vessel into an uneven spin, and it spiraled away towards the planet, engines flickering as it tried to regain control of itself.

For a long minute, no one said anything. All they could do was watch the crippled vessel spiraling downward, trailing smoke and clearly fighting for any control. Finally, in a very shaky voice, Gaige said, "Well, they can't shoot us now, at least."

"Nope." Salvador looked across the cockpit, eyes gleaming as he looked at their rescuer. "How did you do that?"

Maya couldn't answer. She could only sit, frozen, her left hand thrown out in a clenched fist, staring at the emptiness before them.

"Maya?" Gaige snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "You in there?"

No reaction.

"Maya!" Salvador clambered out of his seat and darted across the small space, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Come on, ojos azules. You got 'em. Come on back."

"I'm... I'm here, Sal." Maya took a deep breath, and Salvador could feel her muscles loosening slightly under his hands. She unclenched her hand and smiled at him. "Thanks. I'm okay now."

"You sure?" Gaige asked nervously. "That was a hell of a thing."

"No kidding," Salvador agreed. "How did you-"

"I have no idea," Maya said, stretching her fingers. She stared at her palm as if she expected it to talk. "I just... reacted."

"One hell of a reaction," Salvador managed. "I'm gonna have to make sure I don't piss you off anymore."

She smiled faintly. "Don't worry."

[Gaige! Gaige, do you read?! What was that?!]

"Tell you later, Ax," Gaige said uncertainly, turning back to her instruments. "You've gotta hear this one from the source."

[What the hell does that-]

"I'm showing all the drones destroyed," Gaige interrupted. "What about you?"

[I can confirm that,] Zero reported. [No machines remain with us. The warship itself...]

"Yeah, we see it," Salvador said. "It's all kinds of messed up and dropping like a brick."

"Not quite a brick, but definitely not a feather, either," Gaige said, checking her controls. "It looks like they lost guns, attitude control, their drone management systems, plus scattered damage across the whole midsection of the vessel."

[Tell me they'll burn up in the atmosphere,] Axton said savagely.

"Sorry to disappoint, but that is one tough ship." She gave Maya an apologetic look. "They still have enough stability for an emergency landing. It'll be a rough ride, but they'll probably survive."

Maya leaned over Gaige's shoulder. "What about you guys?" She asked. "How badly were you hit?"

[Some engine damage,] Zero said. [We're docking with the Grinder To begin repairs.]

"All right, good plan. Let me just check on the transport..." Gaige turned back to her console, searching for the damaged ship.

Salvador looked back at Maya. "Seriously, though. How long have you been able to do that?"

Maya shook her head. "I'm not sure I could do it before now, Sal. Think back on all the big enemies we've fought. You'd think at least one of them would've prompted this kind of response."

"Maybe they just-"

"Son of a bitch!"

Maya and Salvador were thrown back into their seats as the Red Tail suddenly went into a hard turn, its engines firing at full power. "Gaige, what the-"

"It's the transport!" Gaige yelled. "They're going down hard!"

"How hard?!"

"According to sensors, they can't survive re-entry." Gaige's knuckles were white as she gripped the controls. "If they're gonna land, we've gotta help!"

The shuttle was starting to rumble as the atmosphere thickened around them and buffeted the hull. "Shouldn't we wait for the Fiery Pearl?" Maya asked, shouting over the noise.

"With the Osprey's engines hit, docking will take them at least a few minutes! The transport will have crashed by then!"

"Can we save them alone?"

"No idea!" Gaige yelled back. "I just know after almost getting shot to pieces for these guys, I'm not letting 'em crash without a fight!"

Salvador squinted through orange glow leaking up from beneath the ship. "Can you see them?"

"No, but you can!" She pointed to his monitor. "Targeting sensors! Scan for anything metal!"

"On it!" Salvador ran his eyes over the scope, searching for any sign of the transport. Outside, the glow of friction increased, the sky beginning to lighten from black to blue.

"I've got them!" Maya yelled. "Four degrees port, about ten seconds ahead of us!"

"Okay, hang on!" Gaige punched in a series of commands, and the shuttle changed direction slightly. "Hold tight, you two! I'm gonna have to try something kinda crazy!"

"What-"

The Red Tail surged liked a spurred horse, and all three Hunters were held immobile in their seats by incredible force. The intense pressure locked them into place for seven eternity-length seconds, then slacked off, the noise of re-entry fading with it.

Salvador gasped for air as his lungs were allowed to work again. "What was that?"

"I fired the main drive in atmosphere," Gaige said, her own voice a little blurry. "That breaks like a million different safety rules, but we couldn't catch 'em if I hadn't." She pointed out the window. "There they are!"

The little transport was definitely in trouble. The ship was in a chaotic spin, its engines dark as it pinwheeled down.

"Dammit!" Gaige slapped the console in frustration. "This isn't going to work!"

"Why not?" Salvador asked. "We caught up."

"I wanted to use our magnetic grappling lines to slow them down, but they're completely out of control! They'll crash into us or rip our hull in two if I-"

"Hold on." Maya stretched her hand towards the window and the transport beyond. Her tattoos began to glow.

Gaige looked at her doubtfully. "What are-"

"Just be ready. Don't distract me." Maya closed her eyes and tried to reach just barely into the strange place her mind went when she called on her abilities. Lashing out with her full strength would only destroy the ship. She needed to hold it, to slow it down...

"Madre de dios!"

Maya opened her eyes. The transport was frozen in mid-air, immobilized in a faint yellow-purple sphere of energy. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the blue markings on her arms were blazing more intensely than any other time in her life.

Her arm also felt like lead. "I've...got it..." She gritted her teeth. "For now..."

Gaige shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know how you're doing that, but keep it up! I'm moving in to fire the anchors!"

Maya nodded, her jaw clenched. She didn't trust herself to speak. She didn't trust herself to blink. The skin on her left arm had begun to feel strangely hot. It was also prickling, as if she were being jabbed with a thousand tiny needles.

Hang on. Salvador was staring at the transport, his knuckles white as he gripped his chair. You've fought through worse than this. You can hold it.

You've got this, Pretty Lady. For some reason, Krieg's voice came to her mind. You can do anything.

Maya's eyes narrowed, and her focus sharpened. The pain dropped out of her left arm, and the burning stopped. The weight was still there, but it was more bearable-

"Firing anchors!" A pair of muffled thunks rippled through the hull, and Gaige punched the air in triumph. "Got 'em! We're tethered!" She ran her hands over the controls. "I'm-"

Maya cried out as what felt like a ton of weight slammed down on her arm. Her tattoos went dark, and the field holding the ship vanished.

The transport's downward momentum was restored in one brutal rush. It plummeted towards the ground, dragging the smaller Red Tail with it.

Salvador gripped the arms of his chair as the shuttle rattled and bucked around them. An ominous groan of strained metal began to fill the air. "Gaige!"

"I'm trying!" she yelled. "They've got twice our mass and a hell of a lot of speed! We don't have the engine power to stop it!" Her hands raced over the controls, desperately seeking an answer. "Maya, if you've got any other tricks...!"

"I... think I'm out." It was all Maya could do to hold on to her seat. She felt winded and dizzy, unable to keep any focus in the turbulent ride.

"Then I don't have a choice!" Gaige's hand moved towards a red button. "I have to cut the anchors before-"

A shadow fell over both ships as the vast, circular hull of the The Fiery Pearlescent Meat Grinder eclipsed the sun and matched its speed with the imperiled ships. [Get clear, Gaige! I've got them!]

"Nice timing, kid!" Gaige hit the button with determination instead of regret. "Detaching cables!" With another pair of metallic clanks, the shuttle broke free of the transport, regaining its stability almost instantly. "We're loose! Go!"

The Pearl moved quickly, sliding closer to the transport, dwarfing the smaller craft. The underside of the hull glowed an electric blue, and the transport's spin slowed, slowed... stopped.

Gaige let out a shaky sigh of relief as the Pearl began to slow its descent as well, moving through the atmosphere at a much more controlled pace. "Smart girl, using the magnetic docking field to catch the ship like that." She beamed at the Pearl as they pulled back, hovering about a hundred yards above the ship's dome. Then her smile faded, and she sighed and rubbed her face. "Good thing they showed up, though." She looked at the red button guiltily. "I... I was about to..."

"You didn't," Salvador interrupted. "And no one would've blamed you if you had, not even Axton."

"Nothing you could have done," Maya agreed. "That last part was my fault." She rubbed her shoulder. The pain was completely gone, and the feeling had started to return to her arm. "I tried something I'd never even thought of before, without considering what could happen if I lost it."

"It might not have worked perfectly, but it did help," Gaige assured her. She sounded a little more confident. "It gave us time to try and tether 'em, to say nothing of letting the Pearl catch up."

"Real day for firsts, huh?" Salvador asked with a grin. "I never fought space robots before, you" he patted Gaige's shoulder "never wrangled a spaceship before, and you" his grin widened as he looked at Maya "never Phaselocked a warship before."

A smile crept onto Gaige's lips. "That was a pretty awesome trick."

Maya couldn't help but smile as well. Salvador's good humor was infectious. "It felt pretty awesome." She flexed her left fingers and ran her right hand over her tattoos. "I wonder if I can do it again..."

"I wouldn't mind seeing it again," Gaige agreed. "Now, what was it you did with the transport?"

"What do you mean?"

"That wasn't a standard Phaselock, was it? There's usually all kinds of weird energy floating around in there, but this time..."

"Nothing but the ship itself," Maya confirmed. "I figured that if I can usually create a bubble of energy from another universe, I might be able to create an empty bubble that would hold the ship until we could secure them." She sighed. "Didn't quite work."

"Almost did," Salvador pointed out. "How'd you come up with it?"

Maya opened her mouth, then closed it again, frowning. "That's... actually a really good question. I don't know where the idea came from." She rubbed her temple. "I appreciate your encouragement, though. It helped me hold on a little longer."

"When did I-" He broke off as Gaige's console started beeping. "What's that, hermana?"

Gaige turned back to the console. "The results of a sensor scan I started running on the transport. They looked pretty banged up and I wanted to see if we could do anything for them."

"Any good news?"

Gaige went pale. "No, not good! Extremely bad!" She hit the radio. "Axton! The transport's power core is spiking! The ship's gonna blow!"

No answer.

"Axton! Zero! Cassidy!" Gaige pounded the console, but the radio stayed eerily silent. "Anyone?!"

"What's going on?" Maya demanded. "Why don't they answer?"

"I don't know! There's nothing wrong with-" Gaige broke off, mouth dropping open as she stared at the Pearl in disbelief. "What the hell?!"

The transport was no longer obscured by the hull of their vessel, and the dome was gone. Instead, a plate of intensely black metal stared up at them. The Osprey was just visible, attached to one side of the plate like an inverted remora.

Their ship was flying upside down.

[I got no quips this week, so I'll just offer a heartfelt message of appreciation to everyone that's read and/or reviewed my new little foray: YOUR KIND WORDS ARE APPRECIATED!]

[(Incidentally, harsh words are also welcomed and appreciated if you note any error.)]

[Next time, the extraction and retrieval attempt. Thanks for reading!]