Twain said,

“That's what I see,” Aero said.

With the arrival of the Innocent Bystanders second fleet, the battle of Twin Arcs reached a stalemate. Phalanx's medium ship fleet possessed two destroyers, four assault cruisers, and three generator ships. Facing them was the Innocent Bystanders fleet, with four destroyers, four assault cruisers, and two generator ships. As such, neither side could overwhelm the restoration capacity of their opposition, and Twain Zeff gave Aero an unreasonable order.

Seriously? “You know our fighters can't even scratch those things right?”

“I can't guarantee success Twain, but I'm sure you know that already.”

Aero sighed. “Give me five minutes to plan something.”

An overt sneer surfaced on Twain's face. he said,

Only the frigates' torpedoes could damage a generator ship, Aero thought, and we have to get into close range for that to work. Given their fleet numbers, the only way to approach is to shoot past them at extreme velocities. We'd have to step back to gain some speed to do that. Even then, all our frigates are dead by the time they get a shot off. Is there another way we could sink those things?

A realization hit him. “April, where are the flights?” Aero asked.

“They're on their way back,” she said. “It looks like the enemy fleets are regrouping.”

“Thanks,” Aero said. “Comms, open a general Wraiths' channel.”

“Yes sir.”

“Hey guys, we've got new orders,” Aero said. “Sink a generator ship, or so Twain says. That way, we aren't here all night.”

Sinn asked.

“It is,” Aero said, “but it's true that this battle won't go anywhere unless something is done.”

Paws asked.

Mayto said.

The Temple Wraiths gathered in the shadow of Doctor Fred, discussing their options. While the destroyers and cruisers bombarded each other at range, the support fleets withdrew to their respective sides following the arrival of the second Bystanders fleet.

Stevie said.

Myles said.

Ice said.

Sinn asked.

“Nothing certain.”

Mayto asked.

“Twenty-five percent, and it will cost us all four frigates.”

Sinn said.

I know you're grinning right now Sinn. You realize the odds are even worse than Elaris right?

Stevie said.

“Okay then. Legs, you still with us?”

Legs said,

“Well that chance is here,” Aero said. “How would you like to sabotage a priest ship?”

“Alright then,” Aero said, “frigates follow me. We're going to back up a little. Sinn's in command of the flights from now.”

Sinn said.

Aero watched the twelve interceptors turn back towards the front and take off. With his requested time over, the suicide plan started. “Helm, come about and displace to three hundred klicks away from the Bystanders fleet. Comms, open channel to Bystanders flagship Spearmint.”

The Wraiths frigates turned around, increasing their thrust to full throttle away from the battlefield.

Lily asked.

Don't answer… pretend you didn't hear…

Twain's smiling face appeared on his viewscreen again. he asked.

“We need some space to collect some speed. The plan is to punch through their support fleets at high velocity, and we'll need a straight line path between us and them,” Aero explained. If it's like this, then there's no need to tell the real plan.

Twain disappeared from the screen with a slight wave of his hand.

“He was definitely being sarcastic,” April said.

“I know.” Aero looked outside. “Not that it matters at this point.”

The lights from the Bystanders fleet faded into nothing as perceived by the human eye. Instruments alone told him the gradually increasing distance between the four frigates and their fleet. Once over a hundred fifty kilometers away, each ship turned around and reactivated its engines for reverse thrust. Exactly three hundred kilometers away from the bystanders fleet, and four hundred from the Phalanx fleet, their relative velocity hit zero. The four frigates drifted in empty space for twenty seconds.

“All ships, set course for nearest Phalanx generator ship,” Aero said. This isn't going to work.

“Here's the plan. We go full throttle for a three hundred klicks, then burn retrograde for the remaining time. That would leave the frigates with a relative velocity will be about ten klicks per second if we pass the priest.”

Chase asked.

“No, we're delivering two Jackknifes. With their engine specs and mass, they'll separate about thirty klicks out and maneuver to board the priest.” The two Jackknifes would blow the instant they take a hit.

Legs said.

“I know, but they should recover within seconds if it happens. Ducks and Chase, you'll start first to draw fire since Myles and I are carrying the boarding craft.”

Chase said.

“Yeah… That's one way to put it” Aero said. You and Ducks probably won't even make it to thirty klicks out unfortunately.

Myles asked.

“In that case, the Jackknifes will jettison early. The frigates are just decoys – we can't have the transports draw attention.”

Ducks said.

“I know, I know. I'm thinking the same thing. Anyways, if any frigates actually get inside their shield radius, launch all your torpedoes into the priest. Otherwise the marines will have to board the thing with its defenses active.” And pray that they aren't detected.

Myles said.

Chase said.

Ducks said.

I'm crazy for trying, you're all are crazy for going along with it, and since when did the Temple Wraiths become a bunch of suicide bombers? Aero sighed. “All ships advance at full throttle.”

When a ship fires its engines in space, the changed speed would maintained until another thruster is fired or the ship collides with another mass. Unlike on Earth, no atmosphere or ocean would counteract a ship's acceleration, and the only limit to a ship's maximum speed is their onboard fuel and propellant. As the Wraiths frigates crossed the first hundred kilometers in return to the Innocents fleet, they reached a speed of five kilometers per second, over four times the speed of the fastest bullet. With another hundred kilometers, they hit ten kilometers per second. And when they passed the friendly fleet, that speed peaked at fifteen kilometers per second. Yet the reality of space was that many objects moved far faster.

“Focus shields aft.” Aero commanded.

“Shields are aft,” Gunner confirmed.

“Burn retrograde,” Aero said. Eight seconds now.

In eight seconds, the frigates, or their pieces, would cross the hundred kilometers to the Phalanx generator ship. For five of those eight, they would receive complete attention from the Phalanx support fleet.

“Initiating retrograde burn,” Helm said.

The four frigates aimed their main engines forwards and blasted their engines towards the enemy fleet. Three seconds later, they entered Phalanx weapons range.

“They're hitting Ducks,” April said.

Fireballs eclipsed the lead frigate. In a split second, torrents of plasma stripped its shields and shredded the ship's hull, its scattered parts continued onward towards Phalanx. Four seconds.

“Now it's Chase and Myles.”

The same orange bloom occluded their craft. Its time, Aero thought.

A clang echoed through Electra's hull. Legius reported.

“ARM MPTs!” Two seconds....

“We're taking fire!” April cried.

Aero's shield gauge entered free fall. All his instruments went berserk and the view screen went black.

“LAUNCH!”

Beams of plasma pierced Electra's command center. Explosive decompression ruptured Aero's lungs. A field of flame engulfed the bridge and arcs of lightning jumped across instrument panels. As flashes of white blinded his eyes, death took his personality container, and Aero's sight faded into darkness.

Five sparks milled about the Wraiths' digital lobby when April and Aero arrived.

“Ooh, April's spark is pink,” Myles said. “Welcome April, to our digital lobby.”

Besides the frigate captains, Ice's two wingmen, Ray and Tama, also welcomed the two back.

The pink spark tumbled in midair. “Thanks… Having a ship explode around you is not fun at all.”

“Why are all the frigate captains suddenly here?” Ray flew to Aero's spark. “What the hell happened after we died?”

“We had to deliver a package,” Myles said, “A package of saboteurs to the Phalanx fleet.”

“I've never lost a ship that fast before,” Chase said.

“That's what happens when you're primary for forty ships your size,” Aero said, “plus about a hundred fighters.”

“Think they made it?” Ducks asked.

“They made it,” April said.

“Oh I see,” Chase said. “This place would be a lot more crowded right now if they didn't.”

“Yeah, now it's up to Sinn and the others to actually make some money,” Aero said. “Losing all four frigates probably wiped out our performance bonus from defending that damn chatterbox.”

“Chatterbox?” Myles asked. “What chatterbox?”

“Lily Parks,” April explained. “She's the captain of Doctor Fred, and wouldn't stop talking after Aero opened a comm link for coordination.”

“Right…” Myles said. “Anyways, with our losses so far, the maximum profit from this job is down to about thirty three mil. It's still not bad, but I don't think we'll be working with IB again anytime soon.”

“So what other jobs do you have for us?” Aero

“Merchant escort for some high value freight. We'll be doing that a lot, I want to build some connections with some bigger merchant orgs before we get the dominion going. Kicker for this one is that the guy thinks they've got a mole and are trying to smoke him out. So it's high pay with even higher combat risk.”

“Just how we like it,” Tama said. “When will that start?”

“First trip's tomorrow. We're looking at up to thrice a week.”

A red spark materialized in the lobby. “GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!” Jake screamed.

“What happened?” Aero asked.

“That fucking Twain sent all fighters and frigates forward after a Phalanx priest ship randomly blew, and Sinn had to lead the charge. Our fighters'll be trashed by the time he's done with us.”

“The hell… That sinks our max profits down to thirty mil,” Myles sighed, “and that's with two hundred mil in credit damage. For full fleet replacement, we break even at eighty mil credit damages dealt. Considering how that Twain used us, we'd be lucky to get out with ten mil in profits. Even piracy is more lucrative than this.”

“There were a lot of meteors today…” Chase said.

“We're definitely not working with Bystanders again,” Aero said.

April's spark spiraled to the side. “Well, at least Aero's plan worked right?”