8 - The Escape

(A/N: the Plane is the imaginary box that all orbits of a star system's planets fall within. to leave the Plane means losing all known points of reference for a Jump-calculation, that's why Eli acts so wierd about it)

It had become unavoidably obvious that Eli's ship wasn't made for two about ten minutes after Eli made an illegal launch from the Cobalt Space Port. Samus sat in the corner, with her knees against her chest, trying to take up as little space as she could. Eli on the other hand had made space by collapsing his pilot's seat into the storage compartment, he was now pacing the floor. "I can't believe that this has happened..."

Samus watched him without moving her head, she merely tracked him with her red eyes. She was aware of the position that she'd forced Eli into, He was harboring a SS-ranked criminal, made an illegal launch during a GF lockdown, he'd also manipulated a GF Marine into attacking him so he could kill the soldier. The bounty on Eli's head would at least triple after this, and he would be classified as an A-rank criminal. Samus also knew that him turning her in was the only viable way out of the situation, she honestly wouldn't hold it against him if he tried to capture her. However, she wished to avoid killing her new partner.

Eli was freaking out, he hadn't thought about the consiquences of his actions until he was already out of Altania's atmosphere. "I'm so screwed."

With a pair Galactic Federation frigates in the system, Eli knew he couldn't make a Jump, they'd be able to track his direction, and thereby his destination. The current situation forced Eli to hide his ship in the ion and ice ring of a nearby gas giant. It wouldn't hide him for long though, there were three wings of single-man ships combing the ring looking for the two of them. It had been this way for over twelve hours now.

"Eli," Samus finally spoke for the first time since they made their deal, "we need to do something quickly."

"What can we do?" Eli looked over at the source of his problems, "there's at least twelve fighters out there and a frigate on the way to support them!"

"We can run," Samus said flatly, "wait for one of the patrols to pass us, gun it out of the plane, then pick a star and Jump towards it."

"A Pirate Jump?"

"A Pirate Jump."

"You want me to not only NOT use a Jump Marker, but to make a randomly calculated Jump OUTSIDE of the Plane?"

"Like I said, a Pirate Jump. It's the only chance we have at getting away."

Eli leaned his head against the wall and began drumming his fingers against the metal. He didn't like it, but he knew that Samus was right. "Without a Marker or even the Plane Points... how long would it take the Feds to figure out where we went?"

"They can't, there are too many stars too close together for that without a Marker signal or a triangulation algorithm using the Plane Points."

"Computer," Eli asked as if the answer would decide for him, "ETA of next patrol sweep?"

"three minutes and twenty-six seconds, plus-minus ten seconds."

"Can we spin-up and still avoid detection?"

"the ionization is particularly strong in this area, fighter class is Raven, Raven uses KiTech Mk-44 Scanning systems... simulating... simulating..."

Eli and Samus both knew that this was the important to the plan, with the engine cold, it would take two minutes to have manuvering power.

"simulation complete... Detection is an absolute certainty in one minute twelve seconds, plus-minus four seconds, however, the Mk-44 would be unlikely to seperate the wavelengths of the reactor from that of the ion ring."

The two Hunters looked at each other. Eli sighed, "begin spin-up under minimum power, only increase output if I authorize it."

"roger, commencing."

Eli watched as the meters slowly began to rise. He scanned the hazy surroundings visually, praying that the patrol would go right past them like they had six times so far. The engines read minimum power for manuvering when Eli spotted the specks of light moving along the ring in the distance. He held his breath without realizing it as they got close enough that he could make out the shadows through the fog that hid them.

Hand hovering over the throttle, Eli watched as the shadows loomed ever closer. "they've detected us by now..." he said to nobody, "...but is the man in charge smart enough to notice it?"

His question was answered when his scanners picked up a spike as the fighters accelrated to engagement speed. "SHIT! COMPUTER FULL POWER NOW!"

Eli threw the throttle and braced himself as the change in momentum caused a shift in the percieved gravity on the ship. He aimed directly between two of the fighters, praying that they wouldn't fire with their comrades in the crossfire. He dropped EMP mines as he left the Ion ring, they detonated and disabled the patrol immediately near them. Eli aimed the ship 'up', trying to get 'above' the Plane before the other two patrols racing after them could catch up.

"WARNING! MISSLE LOCK!" The computer's psuedo-voice began chanting.

"How the hell did the frigate get that close already?" Eli asked as he prepped his last two EMP mines as countermeasures.

An alarm blared as the frigate launched two anti-ship missles and they came streaking across the darkness of space.

"Computer! prepare for Jump procedures! Remove all guidence fail-safes!"

"remove guidence fail-safes? Eli, do you understand that-"

"YES I DO! NOW DO IT!"

Samus, for the first time in a long time, felt useless as she watched. She knew that Eli didn't need her help or input, but she didn't want to just sit there, despite the fact that was all she could do. She stroked the floor,as if petting a dog, "come on girl..." she thought, "don't fail us."

Launching the mines, Eli set the delay so they'd detonated as the missles passed them. He looked at his panels: his navigation was flashing red because he'd broken the plane, his sensors were flashing red for the missles and yellow now that the other patrols had got close enough to have a weapons-lock. Taking Samus' advice literally, Eli picked a star and aimed the ship towards it. He grasped the lever to activate his Jump-system, "come on girl... Don't fail us."

A moment later, the Regg System was nothing more than than a star in the vastness of space.