As the two Hermes missiles launched in vain pursuit of the destroyer's cockpit, the pilot attempted a twisting turn away from a collision course with the enemy ship. Of the many lasers screaming towards the Osprey, however, a few managed to blast at the main engines, significantly cutting down his maneuverability. Brad braced himself for the shunting impact of the Osprey's underside versus the destroyer's side.
The Captain of the Star Destroyer, however, noticed the inevitable collision, and with a hanger at the front of his vessel he could not risk the collision. "Fire deceleration thrusters!" He didn't even get strange looks from his completely obedient crew as they complied with his order, and with the thrusters all firing to below the vessel, it moved upwards. However, the ship shook slightly as there was the brieftest of contact between his vessel and the hostile target.
If there was anything Brad was fortunate the enemy was doing, it was that they were pulling up and way from the Osprey's impact course. Rather than a huge scar along the ships, the Osprey instead got a crushed front thruster, bouncing off into a slow, but uncontrollable spin.
"Dammit... Sturm, report engine capability. Sam, warm up another round of miss-"
Another explosion of lasers from the rear of the Osprey blasted the back of the command center, shattering the rear thrusters and bringing the cruiser's capability yet lower. Engines were at minimal power, sensors were down, one of the Mantis died burning in the teleporter, there was at least four different breaches in the hull, shields were damaged and even more unable to keep up with the barrage of laser fire.
"Gah... All crew, report."
"...Zhan here. Shields are no good against their laser tech."
"I'M GONNA HAVE YOUR HEAD ON A PLATE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THRIK-"
"Bow weapons are down, working on keeping missiles up- AUGH!"
That was it. This was it. Not even a chance at the Rebel Flagship, just doomed to be killed at the hands of this Galactic Empire. This was more than hell, if Brad could imagine it. But he already communicated he wasn't going down without a fight, and he hoped he could keep it that way.
"Gentlemen, ladies... aliens... It has been an honor to be able to work with you all. If we can't win, we're going to die trying. Maybe -nngh- someone else will achieve what we couldn't..." Bradley looked forlornly at the next Venator, the computer's message of 'Hull integrity: 27%' filling a corner of the screen among many other warnings. With a final spark of fire in his eyes, he gunned the engines for all they were worth and sped towards that ship. "Open fire! We'll take them down with us!"
The Osprey lurched forward a final time, the remainder of its propulsion bringing it to the next Venator as fast as it could, while another silo of missiles was launched at the enemy craft. Again, the energy shields proved ineffective at projectile weaponry as the shots rocked through.
That was when the Imperial Captain realized what this vessel was doing. "Turn us around! Get us out of here!" The megalith began to turn, ARC-170s and V-Wings racing towards the ship in an attempt to stop it, firing on it again and again. There was no telling if anyone was still alive on it, but she burned as she vented out into space, while the Venator had turned to face to the left of the incoming ship it began to move, lining up with its starboard hanger...
"Hull integrity: 22%"
The engines died, leaving the Osprey to drift at its remaining speed towards the Venator-class starship. Somehow, Bradley thought it wouldn't be enough. Without thinking, and with no further use for the helm, he dashed out across the ship.
"Hull integrity: 15% Warning! Critical damage!"
Sturm and Michiel's body were both in pieces within the Engineering Bay. His heart gripped at his chest, as if it intended to tear itself out and console the cadavers. Brad pressed on, heading for the inner workings of the ship.
"Hull integrity: 11%" Warning! Warning!
The scaffolding shook and sparked around Bradley as he worked his way to the reactor; the Osprey's command center must have been blasted apart. There was only one way this could end- with a final bang.
"Hull inte-e-ty: 8%" Evacuate immediately!
There. The reactor... and the manual console for it. The precautions of several additional layers of plating around it ensured there was to be few times where a crewman would need to see this in flight. In a fitting twist of fate, however, a maunal detonation of the reactor was such a time.
"-ull int-...y: 3%..."
A few more swift, desperate keystrokes would release all the safeguards on the reactor, and from there, one errant twitch was all it would take to unleash the megaton blast.
The Osprey's impact into the hangar would be met a second later with a shattering explosion. Debris turned into high-velocity projectiles as the shattering frame of the smaller starship was turned into the equivalent of a massive grenade. Though nobody could've survived aboard the Osprey, the Venator had just as much a chance as the rector detonation sent out shockwaves of destructive energy, tearing apart the Star Destroyer from within.
The debris flew out in waves, smaller pieces being flung at high speed into space (or into the starfighters) while larger chunks drifted out in different directions, some towards the opposing gathering of ships.