The Admiral led her handful of frigates back towards the base at a nearly breakneck speed. Pirate fighters nipped at their heels and tapped at their armor with cannonfire, but only just scraped against the surface.
The panicked crewmembers on them were certainly thankful for the frigate’s thicker armor, but were still scared shitless from the constant barrage of fire. The drumming on the hull kept everyone inside on edge.
In contrast, the pirate frigates followed them lazily - Valos was clearly enjoying toying with the Federation. He was never impressed with them in the first place. They often counted too heavily on overwhelming firepower rather than effective tactics.
He and his officers couldn’t help but laugh as the Admiral fled before them.
“Why don’t we just polish ‘em off and take all the shit inside?” asked Merlin. “I mean, Tartarus is kinda an open vault right now, yeah?”
Valos shook his head with a chuckle.