Londo had The Last Pilgrim running and ready for takeoff as soon as Zeryn stepped into the cargo ramp. As she ran towards the cockpit, her voice sounded through the intercom.
"Londo… are you sure about this?"
"You mean about trusting that woman? Of course I'm not sure. But I'm thinking, if she draw enough fire away from us… well, good riddance to her."
"You don't think" Zeryn said as she entered the cockpit "she can survive this?"
Londo frowned as he looked at Zeryn.
"No one can survive this, Zeryn. Not even a jedi. She's dead."
"She did approach Khran's interdictor head on."
"Khran's interdictor was waging a war against the Watcher's droids, and she took advantage of several openings in their fire as she approached the cruiser." Londo said as Pilgrim sped past Station City boundaries "This time, it's a dreadnought, and all of its attention will be focused on her. Believe me, it is physically impossible to take that ship head on with a single fighter."
"Well", Zeryn said as she strapped on "isn't that what we are doing as well?"
She was right, kind of. The danger and threat to them was immense. So much that any sane person wouldn't even consider trying it. Yet, Londo was going to, for the sake of a droid. Just like he did a few years ago, when he freed the Pilgrim. Some lessons we just don't want to learn.
"Let's say I'm not very optimistic about our choices either…"
Zeryn stared at him.
"We do have a chance, don't we?"
The dreadnought appeared in their screen. A hulking cruiser still no larger than a dot from that distance.
"Here's the thing. We will show up in their sensors as a small asteroid on impact course. A dreadnought's shields are more than enough to deflect these types of impacts, so when we get really, really close to it, we will be able to turn on Pilgrim and land on the ship's hull. However, if anyone in that ship thinks it's better safe than sorry and attempts to shoot down that incoming asteroid, which is us, it's bye bye. We will have no shields, no thrusters, no maneuverability at all. So… it's a gamble, Zeryn. That's the best I can do."
Zeryn looked down for a bit, breathing in deeply before saying.
"Alright. Say we make it through. How are we going to get past the dreadnought's shields? We managed to land on Khran's cruiser because its shields were down, but the dreadnought is still very much active."
"While you were out there, Pilgrim and I haven't been idle. We managed to retrieve a piece of a broken droid ship and extract slice into one of the droid ships and get their shield configuration from the computer. When we get close enough, we will turn on Pilgrim, pass through their shields as if we were one of their own ships, and land on their hull."
Before Zeryn could object, or even think this through, Londo had the Pilgrim flying towards the dreadnought. Every droid ship retreated after they captured Ardos, and there was a clear flying path towards that ship. Of course, Londo could just as easily kick in the hyperdrive and never come back, but he had already made up his mind. Save Ardos, or die trying. The dreadnought awaited them two hundred kilometers away.
Narla already had its forces engaged. Its small blue dot in the Pilgrim displays danced around dozens, a hundred red dots that tried to get it. She was indeed impressive.
Londo turned the Pilgrim off, and as all lights died out in the cockpit, temperature started to drop drastically. In his mind, he calculated the time it would take them to reach the cruiser.
Soundlessly, they approached. The dreadnought loomed larger and larger before them, and at one point they started seeing the yellow lines of plasma fire exchanged between Narla and the droid ships. It was impossible to know how well she fared, but she still seemed to be giving them a lot of trouble.
Londo clenched and eased his hands as the cruiser grew in size before them. They were likely four kilometers away now. Almost side by side with it, by spacefaring standards. The operators within the dreadnought must have noticed them by now. They must have realized the small object on a collision course, and if they hadn't fired yet, then…
Only, they did fire.
An array of turbolaser shots sped towards them. Londo widened his eyes, turned Pilgrim on, pressed every button he could to get maneuver back online. Not enough time, though. That was it.
It missed. The first salvo missed them, and before the second could hit Londo turned the ship around and danced away from the shots. No shield yet, though.
"We lost the gamble, Londo." Zeryn said.
They sure did. What would they do now?
The whole ship juddered. The first thing The Pilgrim said as it went back online was.
"I'm hit. I lost all port thrusters."
Shields came back on in time to protect them from two more shots, but those shots depleted their shields right away. Once again, they flew towards the dreadnought with no protection, and now it definitely knew that another hostile ship approached, because more and more turbolaser shots sped towards them.
The Pilgrim's maneuver was completely off. It could survive one, maybe two more shots and then she was done for.
"We can't do it, Londo." Zeryn said "We have to escape."
They certainly had to. The Pilgrim already had hyperdrive calculations complete anyway, so all Londo had to do was press a button. However, that would be the end of any chance for saving Ardos. Even Narla would die, though that would be a plus.
Still, Londo tried to veer the ship, roll as best he could away from the shots. Not enough, though.
Another ship zoomed before them, bringing about a squad of droid ships on its tail and drawing fire from the dreadnought away from them, for a bit.
"Nice plan you had there, Londo" Narla's voice reached their comms. "Why didn't you go along with it?"
She… saved them? Did she actually drew away from her own approach in order to buy them this opening? Londo would never understand this woman.
"I can't believe it…" Zeryn said.
"She is full of surprises, isn't she?" Londo replied, still dodging turbolaser shots as best as he could.
"You are right, Zeryn. We can't do it. Narla bought us time, but even so, we can't make it. We will go for plan Z."
"Plan Z?" Pilgrim asked.
"Plan Z, Pilgrim. We are going to pull an Ean on them. Zeryn… go to the cargo hold and strap on a space suit. We will eject you towards the dreadnought."
Zeryn stood, immobile, for a while.
"For real?"
"Any other ideas? Pilgrim won't get any closer than this. A single person in a vacc-suit will be nearly invisible to their sensors in this circumstance. You want in there, this is our only way."
"I… I'm no good in a space suit, Londo. I need help."
Londo glared at her. Pilgrim said.
"Go with her, Londo. I can hold them this long."
"Can you, Pilgrim?" She likely couldn't.
"I'm not as good a pilot as you, Londo, but Narla is running interference enough to let me do it. Go. Now."
Every second he waited could be another shot they took, and likely their last. No time to think this through. Crap.
"Alright." Londo got up from his chair and ran towards the cargo area. From the sound of following steps behind him, Zeryn followed. "As soon as we are out, Pilgrim, you hyperspace away."
He opened a crate and picked up two vacc-suits.
"How are we going to get past their shields now, Londo?" Zeryn asked as she started putting on her suit.
"The suits are laced with hyperconductive coating" Londo explained as he zipped-in his boots and leggings. "Just set the suit to modulation four hundred and thirty seven by ninety five. And remember," he went on as he strapped in his chest harness and took his helmet. "Once we are off, no radio contact, no ion thrusters, use air jets only."
"Alright…" Zeryn sounded pitifully uncertain as she picked up her guns and some heavier weapons.
Londo took out his suit cable and connected it with Zeryn's.
"But, Londo, how am I going to–"
The cargo door opened, and all went silent.
The blue flash of light behind them was the only indication the Pilgrim had gone into hyperspace. For a time, it seemed the cruiser's turbolaser shots would hit them, but they passed right over where Pilgrim had been, missing them by an arm length.
Londo could only hear his own breathing; faster than he ever remember it having been. The dreadnought cruiser closed in before them as Londo and Zeryn rotated around each other. As its gargantuan mass approached in high speed, Londo pulled in Zeryn's suit through the cable and locked his own with hers. With his own air jets, he levelled their position with the cruiser. It was now an immense fortress almost as large as their horizon, and by the speed with which they got close to it, they would splatter on its hull like bugs if he didn't eased their approach.
Droid ships passed by them in a blur, almost so close that he could have touched them. To their side more and more plasma shots were exchanged between Narla and the droids.
Almost right beneath them, the entrance to the dreadnought hangar got closer and closer. Too far down, though. They would not be able to maneuver into it at their speed. The cruiser hull was now a death wall advancing towards them. Londo thrusted them both upwards, towards the more inclined parts of the hull.
A blue field flashed before him, and Londo only had the time to punch in the configuration commands as they both zipped by the cruiser shields. The hull ran beneath them now, still closer and closer, too fatally fast.
Londo turned on every single system in his vacc-suit and pulled back. Zeryn's suit, connected to his, did the same. The ship's turrets and ports stopped zipping past them, and, for a moment, it seemed they would land safely on the hull.
Then they entered into the artificial gravity field of the ship, and got pulled down hard, towards the hull. They both bit it with a thud that meant something in his suit had broken. The pair kicked around the hull like a clumsy lump of arms and hands, and Londo could only brace himself and try protecting his visor.
They rolled and rolled, and finally stopped. One way or another, they had done it. They were within the cruiser shields, even if they were still outside of its hull.
Londo disconnected his suit from Zeryn's, who slowly got up.
"Are you okay?" He said through the radio. She didn't reply, so he manually activated her own radio.
"How are you, Zeryn?" He asked, between deep gasps of breath.
"By all the gods, Londo, let's never ever do this again."
"How are your systems?"
"I seem to have lost thrusters and my life support is failing fast. I have probably ten minutes left."
"My main air supply has been breached as well. I am on emergency life support. Ten minutes to me as well. I do have thrusters, though."
The cruiser turrets, real buildings around them, seemed to be whirring trying to lock on them. They were too small a target, though.
"We have to get into the ship somehow." Londo said "Have you brought anything that can breach it's hull?"
"Well, I have here–"
A bunch of capsules burst open around them, and arachnid combat droids popped up from within the cruiser. Londo picked up his pistols, ducked, and before they could say another word, the fight was on.