As the battle heated up in the center of the field, a small group of stealth fighters was approaching the Dominion fleet from the back.

“Captain Gregor of the Phantom Squadron.” A comm ranged in the cockpit of the leading wraith. The captain immediately saluted. It was general Davis herself. “Your mission is clear. Get as close to the enemy flagship as possible and destroy the bridge.”

The captain nodded as the comm was turned off and gave out an order to his eleven followers. Simultaneously all twelve elite wraiths in the squadron cloaked and moved rapidly toward the heart of the Dominion fleet.

He would be sneaking into the heart of the enemy and perform a daring assassination, but he wasn’t worried. This was just another kill. He had fought with all sorts of enemies before. Zerg. Terran. Protoss. He survived all of them with a combination of skill and luck. His victories were enough to make him a general, but he refused the promotions. In comparison to sitting in the bridge of a battlecruiser, he preferred the thrill of life and death and glory and defeat. General Davis saw his potential and made him the captain of an elite wraith squadron dedicated to assassinate enemy commanders in the chaos of battle.

Jean had no idea she was about to be backstabbed by cloaked units led by a daring pilot. She was special, mentally ill, but she wasn’t an oracle. She was still trying to move the ships she had command over into better positions.

At first Jean noticed something was odd with the rebel fleet. Instead of forming a line like Jean ordered the Dominion fleet to do, the rebel fleet was organized so that all the battlecruisers had a line of sight toward the Dominion fleet. When the two fleets engaged all 300 rebel battlecruisers could fire while only a few of the Dominion ships in front could fire. Jean knew she made a mistake, and she was working hard to fix it.

Upon repositioning another battlecruiser to a better position, Jean was suddenly shook by a loud explosion from the back. She turned around and saw the rear plating of her flagship was consumed by explosions and flames.

“Where did the attack come from?” Jean’s mutated body was more than capable of protecting her from falling over. Nova, as a trained special agent, steadied herself as well from the surprise attack. There was no other crew member in the bridge as Jean trusted metal adjutants over human beings.

“There is no visible enemy unit. Cloaked units. Most likely wraiths.” The adjutant was as calm as ever. A normal human crew member would be panicking now, but not the computer.

“Laser batteries fire on possible enemy locations. Deploy reserve squad alpha. Dispatch three science vessels. Order them to deploy defensive matrix.” Jean ordered calmly before returning to commanding the main fleet as if nothing happened. Her response was on point and on time. Nova knew she couldn’t do it better herself. The adjutant passed down the order, but it would take a while for reinforcements to arrive.

The ghost agent grabbed onto the side as further explosions hit. She groaned slightly and glanced at Jean. The girl was as steady as ever. She barely flinched. For a moment Nova felt a wave of confidence washing over her chest. It was as if everything was under Jean’s control, for why else would she be so calm and patient? Nothing could catch her off guard or take her by surprise, and nothing could take her down. Nova subconsciously stood closer to Jean. She was starting to admire the constantly cold teenager.

If Jean had known what Nova thought she would have felt lucky. She was unmoved by the attack because she physically couldn’t feel fear or anxiety. Logically speaking she knew if death was to come screaming or faltering couldn’t save her. In that case why not stand calmly and control the major battlefield? What happens if she actually survived?

Jean’s flagship was technically in the middle of the entire Dominion fleet, but it just so happened that Jean was trying to utilize the number advantage of her fleet. Her ships were spreading out to create more surface area to fire on. The change in length led to a decrease in width, and the ships around the flagship was decreasing every minute as more and more ships were re-positioned for maximum damage. This led to a defense vacuum around the ship that held Jean.

When the wraiths striked there were dozens science vessels and ravens around. Such high-tech vessels were too expensive to be mass produced, and there wasn’t that many of them in the Dominion fleet. Dozens of detectors might seem many, but they didn’t have the number to cover every piece of space around with detection. There were openings, and the hit squad managed to slip by from one of the openings. Two more battlecruisers were protecting the flagship and a dozen more were close, but they lacked the detection. In fact they didn’t even know there were enemies around before the wraiths launched their first round of missile.

Jean was actually quite lucky. There happened to be a raven in front of the flagship, which forced the wraiths to hit the ship from behind. The twenty four modified missiles, two per wraith, ripped open the rare plating and killed some crew members, but that wasn’t enough to take down the giant cruiser.

In the back of the flagship, dozens of Dominion personal were killed by the explosion. The few that survived the initial blast were sucked into space via the opening in the plating. They would freeze to death in minutes. Metal doors snapped shut and prevented the oxygen from the rest of the ship from leaking.

“Again!” The captain ordered as the wraiths pulled around for another hit. Another round of missiles should damage the battlecruiser enough.

They were about to turn toward the flagship when the three battlecruisers suddenly fired with all rear batteries. As experienced as he was, Gregor instantly understood what they were trying to do. The battlecruisers didn’t have the detection, but they could still fire at potential areas that the wraiths might be in. Judging by the amount of laser batteries on the three battlecruisers sooner or later one or more lasers would be lucky and hit a wraith. Even if they didn’t it would buy some time for reinforcements to arrive.

Damn it! The enemy commander reacted quicker than any other commander Gregor had seen.

“Sir?” A wraith pilot hesitantly asked. Pushing the attack now could be dangerous. Enemy reinforcements would be here in minutes. Assassins usually pull away when their initial hit fails. Only amateurs would stay and fight and die.

“Make another hit…” Gregor, before completing the order, suddenly pulled up. A laser barely missed the under belly of his ship and hit a rebel wraith that didn’t respond quick enough. The wraith was engulfed by flames instantly. The wraith was modified in terms of speed and agility, not armor.

In the bridge, Nova grinned as she saw through a camera a large ball of fighter wreckage appearing out of nowhere. If she was the old Nova she wouldn’t show her excitement as easily, but the new Nova was much more emotional. The inhibitor chip suppressed her emotions, and all these emotions came back as soon as Jean took out her chip.

Hearing the terrified scream, which was instantly silenced, Gregor’s heart was ice cold. This wasn’t the first time a soldier had died near him, but he still didn’t enjoy it. He glanced at the computer that monitored his fighter. The laser left a scar on the belly. If he had responded a second later he would be dead.

Taking a deep breath, Gregor knew he was stuck in a terrible position. And yet he knew he couldn’t retreat. General Davis wasn’t known for being forgiving. The rifles of the MPs weren’t for show. If he returned without the kill...

Captain Gregor made up his mind, and his decision cut off the last hope of Phantom Squadron.

“On me boys! Keep your eyes peeled! Let's move!” He ordered loudly and pulled around for another attack.