Structural damage forces Raven to abandon a running escape

In Raven's Course, restoring the shield does not restore the ship's ability to fight or escape. The damaged keel leaves the main battery unusable without a complete reconstruction, though that loss frees power for the surviving systems. Continued high acceleration threatens to break the ship apart, so the captain gives engineering authority over the safe thrust limit. Slowing down allows the pursuers to gain and forces a new plan to hide in a comet swarm. Enemy fighters remain a problem because they could find the ship before the larger pursuers arrive. The crew therefore has to defeat the immediate fighter threat while preserving enough of the damaged vessel to reach concealment.