The black disc was half-silhouetted against the sun, no lights shining of its own. It turned, ponderously at first, then started approaching. The pilot killed the constant upward thrust and forced his small craft to leap forward, away from the menace, hoping to outrun the larger vessel. The hyperdrive wouldn't be able to function for a while, and would be less than useless. The Thargoid could follow him in, catch him in mid- jump.
The Gecko shuddered as it took an impact on the rear shields. Blasts came in quick succession; the screens dropped a noticeable amount with each one. The pilot wrenched the ship onto a new course, but soon the blasts were hitting again. He hurled the craft into wild evasive manoeuvres, each one allowing the larger and infinitely more powerful vessel to close on him. Two smaller markings appeared on the scanner, and the rate of hits increased.
Armed only with a single pulse laser, he was no match for what he was facing. He turned towards one of the smaller targets, eventually heading towards it with the less injured forward screens. A few seconds more of incoming fire and it was down, but a small pentagonal craft was in his sights. He desperately fired the laser, and it disintegrated in a few shots.
The scanner remained mercifully clear of any further Thargons, their mothership either being short supplied or seeing no need to waste them on such an easy target, and the pilot was all but dead. The Gecko's shields had failed, and the emergency energy reserves were nearly out.
Space in front of the Gecko distorted, twisting itself into the shape of a new vessel, a cloud forming around it. Then a second later it flashed into solid shape, the evil-looking snake's head of a Cobra Mk III. Other blips appeared on the scanner. The Cobra quickly came to life, shooting straight over the Gecko towards the Thargoid in a heavy stream of military laser fire. The laser battering from the Thargoid ceased. The small mark of the other Thargon vanished.
Shaking so badly he was hardly able to, he turned around to see the Thargoid under an onslaught. Two Cobra Mk IIIs and two Fer-de-Lance Lightspeeders were hammering at the alien vessel. In a seeming miracle of foresight one of the Fer-de-Lances smoothly twisted out of the way fire was returned, barely glancing on its shields. A short-range missile from the other Fer-de-Lance blew a huge explosion from the corner of the enemy, and pushed beyond endurance it vanished into hyperspace.
The pilot jabbed at the comms, hailing at his impossible rescuers. They formed up in formation in front of him, then accelerated off into space.