Twelve seconds and 1.3 light-hours later we drop back to sublight and race towards Malon II at full impulse. Master Chief Wiggin locates the Shargrash and throws the optical sensor readouts onto the viewscreen. The Gorn freighter has multiple hull breaches and the starboard impulse engine is out, but by skill, luck, or some mixture of both, they’re managing to avoid the worst of the pirates’ fire, even using their cargo tractor beam to chuck small rocks and various bits of debris into their path (not very effectively, but they’re trying). For their part the pirates, a Jem attack ship and three fighters in varying states of repair, are whaling on them with essentially everything they’ve got.