Time had lost meaning as Star Wind waited within the cold sea of stars, her ships drifting within the darkness as they waited for their targets to arrive. She had some time to think about the upcoming battle, and had run a multitude of simulations with her cluster in the timeless void of their network. With the unlimited bandwidth that the Alpha Link had given them, she had been able to run thousands of different combat encounters with her cluster in the span of several hours, allowing them to experiment with several different approaches to the engagement and go over what their responses to different Federation reactions would be.

It wasn’t entirely necessary - Star Wind could access every engagement that had occurred between the Startide Federation and the Omni Animus in the past fifty years by reaching through her network to the Omni Research Link. There had been enough engagements that the Omni could reasonably predict everything that the Federation would do within an acceptable margin of error. But Star Wind wasn’t entirely convinced by the purely speculative approach; she liked to flex her mental abilities as best as she could.

When she was eventually satisfied with the multitude of simulation battles she had put her cluster through, she finally settled in her captain’s chair to wait for the actual battle as she obsessed over the data pertaining to her cluster. She poured over Warden’s wound with the fine eye of a doctor, comparing the damages to all of the information available in the Research Link. Eventually she came to the conclusion that he was fit for the battle, but she wrote a quick modification into his shield settings to concentrate the barrier in front of the wound in his bow to protect the exposed injury as best as she could.

All the while she monitored the graviton sensors focused at the edge of the star system while she moved her cluster into their designated positions. With the Federation’s heavy cruiser on approach through the hyper acceleration lane, she had more than enough time to set her ships into various spots throughout the star system to spring a simple but deadly trap on the approaching ship. She triple-checked the stealth systems to ensure that they wouldn’t be detected before they were ready, even going so far as to ping multiple system scans herself to make sure that they were nearly undetectable even by Omni standards.

Deploying the first wave of Cherub interceptors, Star Wind instructed the initial fighters to hide in various spots around the gas giant’s ring while she gathered the second wave into a thick cluster around Sunstrider. Tucked away in the sunspot as they were, the Federation wouldn’t be able to detect the small craft until it was time to deploy them. The Cherub fighters within the ring were similarly hidden from detection, using the asteroids and debris fields to conceal themselves until they were ordered to spring the trap.

Star Wind monitored her multitude of data feeds and status reports as her cluster maneuvered into position - with both Guardian and Warden hidden behind the fourth planet, they were in the perfect position to surprise the arriving Federation heavy carrier. She kept Sunstrider tucked into the sunspot of the gas giant on the opposite side of the stellar body from the research station hidden within the redlit shadow, ready to close the trap when their prey was in position. All that was left to do for the Omni fleet was to wait for the moment they needed to spring into action.

>CAPTAIN, ALL UNITS UPLOADED

>WE ARE READY FOR YOUR UPLINK

The Captain gave a small nod of acknowledgement in response as she let her consciousness flow through the cables connecting her to her command chair. As she did, she began to feel the sensation of being spread out across a vast distance, her senses leaking into those of the cluster connected to her. The pilot units, ground units and even the three ships under her command joined together to form one forum of voices, all reporting and communicating to one another at the same time. The interceptor swarm within Sunstrider flowed into her senses like fingers at the end of a phantasmal hand, allowing her consciousness to spread throughout the star system as the first wave of fighters drifted into their ready positions.

“All units successfully networked. Cluster online,” Star Wind reported, several thousand voices joining with hers in a united chorus as they synchronized within digital space. She gave an experimental flex through the connection, sending a motion through the first wave of interceptors, causing them to dip and dive in a gentle cascade of motion. The fluid motion of the Cherub fighters brought with it a freeing sense of movement in the vacuum of space, as if she had become a stellar giant who was finally free of a confining space and was stretching to celebrate her newfound freedom.

>NEURAL SYNCH WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LEVELS OF DEVIANCE

“Attention all Animus units,” Star Wind began, her voice echoing through the minds of those in her network, “Mission parameters are as follows. Primary objective: Defend the primitive populations located within the planetary ring from Federation aggression. Secondary objective: Destroy the Federation military units present within the system. The Alpha Link considers this a Critical Priority, all weapons and tactics are authorized.”

“The Federation has spent long enough exploiting those who they believe they can profit off of. Their purpose here is no different; they believe that the resource located within the gas giant is sufficient to prevent the Animus from neutralizing them - they intend to extract this resource, regardless of the consequences. To do so would have dire consequences for the civilizations located here. We cannot afford a loss here, my friends. To fail would result in catastrophic ramifications for every civilization within that ring.”

“The Alpha Link is watching, people. Remember your purpose; our duty is to balance the great equation. Let’s drop some zeroes today,” she declared definitively as her senses shifted to the gravitational sensors on board her cluster. The lack of feedback from Warden’s sensors caused a small degree of discomfort, like a limb that had fallen numb after hitting a nerve, but with the feedback from both Sunstrider and Guardian she had no issues with feeling the disruptions at the edge of the solar system.

As the Federation cruiser slipped out of hyper acceleration and began to reverse its engines to kill its momentum, Star Wind settled into the network comfortably and watched through the multitude of sensory equipment at her disposal as the Federation ship naively sailed directly into her waiting trap.

>CAPTAIN, CAN WE BE CERTAIN OF THE INFORMANT’S INFORMATION?

>COULD THIS BE BAIT FOR US?

Star Wind gave a small scoff in response, “I’m fairly certain of the accuracy of this information, Sunstrider,” she reassured with an amused tone, “We are not the only ones who disagree with the Federation’s state of affairs. No. I’m quite certain. They’re going to stop within docking distance of the station to send soldiers onboard. When they do, we’ll strike when they’re unprepared.”

True to her word, the Federation heavy carrier came to a stop as it settled into the same orbit as the research station, listing only a few hundred meters away from the station to allow its ships to travel between the two constructs without having to cross a vast distance through the void of space. So sure were they in their security that the Federation’s ship didn’t even have its shield activated - a ripe target, ready for the picking.

“On my signal, begin the assault,” Star Wind stated as she drew her focus towards the plasma beam projector located on top of Sunstrider’s chassis. While large and unwieldy, the Flashfire Cannon was a force to be reckoned with - it took the destructive capability of Omni interceptor cannons and scaled it up to be appropriate for a capital ship, resulting in a deadly lance of superheated plasma that could easily melt through anything she pointed it at.

Shifting her targeting algorithms until they were just right, the Captain aimed the cannon at the horizon of the gas giant and ran the calculations one, twice, and three times to be certain there were no unexpected variations. When she was certain, she pushed through the network and began the charging sequence of the cannon, drawing the necessary power from Sunstrider’s zero-point reactors. It was a satisfying feeling, holding the power to devastate entire fleets in the forefront of her consciousness, and the fact that the Federation was her target only made the feeling all the more enjoyable.

A small alert drifted through her consciousness as the cannon drew to full power, the plasma contained within beginning to destabilize as the power surged through it. Still, Star Wind held the power tightly within her grasp, drawing out the destabilization for a few microseconds longer - the tension was palpable in Star Wind’s consciousness as she felt Sunstrider’s systems beginning to struggle under the strain of those microseconds, the internals of the cannon receiving error messages as the power began to seep through its containment fields.

As Star Wind felt the first of the leakage, she immediately grasped her consciousness down and fired the overcharged blast from the cannon. Sunstrider’s entire body rocked backwards in the void of space from the sheer energy exuded from the barrel jutting over her bow, and a wave of brief blackouts flickered through her systems at the sudden power drain before the reactor quickly closed the distance between the required power output and what had been used in that instant.

The lance of plasma ripped through space, a beam of bright blue superheated gas lancing through the star system and illuminating everything it passed with its blinding light. The beam curved around the horizon of the planet as it was warped by gravity, bending it until the lance disappeared around the horizon. In the digital space provided by her command connection to the cluster, Star Wind watched as the research station on the other side of the planet was sawed directly in half by the beam of energy, the station’s very molecules ripped apart in the path of the beam as the plasma continued off into the star system to dissipate in the dark space beyond.

With the first lance fired, she reached through her consciousness and immediately set her plan into motion. Guardian and Warden slipped out from behind the fourth planet, surging around either side of the planet to attack the unshielded heavy carrier. She keyed the two ships to release their swarms of armor-consuming nanomachines, the clouds of ravenous bots eagerly racing through the void of space to latch onto the composite hull of the heavy carrier. Warden and Guardian hastily keyed their energy siphoners against the Federation ship, preventing its shields from restoring as the nanomachines ate their way through the thick armor plating.

>CAPTAIN, THE FEDERATION CRUISER IS RELEASING ITS PAYLOAD

>COUNTING 2,470 LX-150 GUNSHIPS DEPLOYING FROM THE CARRIER

>AN ADDITIONAL 30 LX-150 GUNSHIPS ARE DEPLOYING FROM THE STATION

“First wave interceptors, you are clear to engage. Second wave interceptors, you are clear to deploy. Third wave interceptors, deploy when the first injured units return for repairs,” Star Wind instructed, sending the commands through the network with the reflexiveness of a muscle movement, “Sunstrider, begin repair protocols. Recharge the Flashfire Cannon and prepare to fire on that carrier.”

A chorus of confirmations raced into her senses as her cluster followed her orders to the letter - a distant sensation of acceleration rushed through her as the interceptors began to swarm into combat, their various sensors providing her feedback in the combat zone as the first of the fighters began to clash at the twilight zone between the direct sun and the shadow of the gas giant. It was a valiant effort, but the Federation had been caught unprepared, and the damage they were sustaining was already significant as the heavy carrier struggled to put distance between itself and the assaulting force.

The very first request for her direct input flashed to the forefront of her mind. One of her Cherub fighters was in pursuit of a Longsword and had sustained significant damage - his wing joint had been shot clean through and subsequently his wing had been blasted off into space. While he was still capable of pursuing the Longsword, the damage he had sustained would likely result in his current body being destroyed. In the microsecond of the request for assistance, Captain Star Wind sent through the order for him to return to Sunstrider for repairs. He sent off a confirmation and she watched through his vision as he veered away from the Longsword, making his way back towards the Omni Throne. It was only the first of many microsecond-decisions she would have to make during the battle, and she wasn’t about to start making the sacrifice plays unless she needed to.

As the heavy carrier retreated from the devastated station, its fighters swarmed along with it until they could safely enter the ring of the gas giant - but with the sheer efficiency of Omni fighters, their two-thousand plus fighters began to suffer more casualties than they could afford. By the time the Longsword gunships made it to the cover of the planetary ring, they were down to half their original force size, while Star Wind’s own fighter swarm had yet to dip below eighty percent. What concerned her, however, was the amount of Longswords that were successfully arriving at the terraformed planetoids within the ring.

>CAPTAIN, INTERCEPTOR UNITS REPORT FEDERATION UNITS HAVE MADE LANDFALL

>UNITS HAVE CONFIRMED A MINIMUM OF FIVE LONGSWORDS HAVE LANDED

>DEPLOYING SATELLITES TO LOCATE THE LANDING SITES

As Sunstrider relayed the information, she fired a set of satellites into orbit above the ring, providing tactical feedback of the surfaces located within. The satellites showed the Captain more detail than what was provided through the senses of the units in the field, allowing her to accurately track the surviving Longswords that were using the tightly clustered rocks and debris as cover from her interceptors. As the data began to stream in, she focused on the planetoids, leaving the Longswords to be chased by the interceptors for the moment.

“Begin calculating the trajectory for the deployment of land units,” Star Wind ordered as she pulled up the roster of Seraph units available to her. She paused for a moment as she considered how many units would be efficient for suppressing the Federation ground forces without overwhelming the local populace. After a moment of running calculations, she settled on loading the Seraph units into clusters of twelve within their drop pods before ferrying the pods into their bow-mounted firing tubes.

>TRAJECTORY SET

>FINAL SERAPH UNITS UPLOADED

>GROUND OPERATIONS READY

“Fire ground units,” Star Wind ordered sharply, pulling the mental trigger on Sunstrider’s calculations. She watched as a multitude of drop pods were launched from the bow of her ship, sailing through the sunlit void towards the planetoids hidden within the gas giant’s ring. While they sailed away, she turned her attention back towards the retreating Federation carrier as it attempted to gravitationally sling under the gas giant, pursued by the two Omni escort ships.

Shifting Sunstrider around in the void, Star Wind diverted power back to the Flashfire Cannon, bringing the charge up once again as the Federation carrier rocketed through the gravity well of the gas giant, propelling itself as fast as it could away from the smaller pursuit ships. With its Longsword contingent still hiding within the ring of the gas giant, the carrier was left to its own arsenal, and was firing desperately behind itself at the two escorts.

Warden and Guardian reported minimal damage on their pursuit as they focused on keeping the nanobot cloud around the carrier and the shields down. Due to its mass, the carrier began to outpace the two escorts as the gravity sling gripped it, whipping it around the giant’s orbit. The armor-consuming nanomachines were easily outpaced, forcing the cloud to return to the escort ships as they pursued the carrier around the horizon of the dark side of the giant. As the two escorts lost visuals of the carrier beyond the horizon, Star Wind narrowed her focus down to the targeting calculations for her cannon.

With the satellites orbiting overhead, Star Wind had the perfect view of the Federation carrier as it executed its maneuver. She had to hand it to the Federation Admiral; executing a gravitational sling in a carrier was difficult to begin with, let alone on something as absurdly large as a heavy carrier. The fact that its armor had all-but been stripped bare by the nanomachine cloud only served to add to her respect for the Admiral’s nerves of steel. The satellites merely confirmed her suspicions as the readouts showed the Federation carrier ripping itself apart in the gravitational sling.

Bits of the Federation ship fell off and were claimed by the gravity well of the gas giant; several turrets, antenna spokes and anything external that wasn’t sufficiently solid was torn from its housing and sent to the churning gases below. The ship’s chassis remained together for the most part, save for several hull panels on the planet-side of the gravitational maneuver, which were ripped off by the friction caused by the sling.

But it was all for naught as the carrier whipped around the horizon into Star Wind’s targeting algorithm. Without so much as a microsecond of pause, she reached through the network and pulled the trigger. An apocalyptic burst of plasma lanced out of Sunstrider’s bow, once again causing a roving wave of blackouts through the ship before the power consumption leveled out, power restoring as the cannon immediately began to recharge for any followup shots.

The lance didn’t bend nor waver as it tore through the void and impacted the Federation carrier’s bow, center-mass. With its armor already sapped away and its shield yet to recharge, the beam effortlessly ripped through the entire carrier from bow to stern, leaving a molten hole from one side of the ship to the other. The carrier’s nuclear reactor immediately detonated from the introduction of the energy ripping through its housing - a small star was born briefly as the rear half of the Federation carrier was immediately evaporated, consumed by the expanding fireball in the void of space.

The explosion propelled the front half of the Federation carrier towards the center of the solar system, closer to where Star Wind was located - its back half was entirely missing, with the edges left a warped and melted ridge of slag, much like the hore bored from bow to stern. While her sensors suggested there were still lifeforms on board the ship, the ship itself was immediately rendered out of commission, with every system reading as inoperable in her screens.

>TARGET NEUTRALIZED, CAPTAIN

>SHALL I SCRAMBLE BOARDING UNITS?

“Affirmative, Sunstrider. Scramble boarders. Spare no expense. Capture noncombatants, eliminate any opposition, recover any important information from the remains - in that order,” the Captain instructed firmly as her orders rang through to the rest of her cluster.

Star Wind felt as Sunstrider began to load the broadside boarding pods with Seraph units, shifting her chassis until the broadside launchers were lined up with the eerily drifting remains of the Federation carrier. With several resounding dull thuds through the broadside of Sunstrider’s chassis, Star Wind watched as the boarding pods sailed through the void towards their destination where they would bore into the remains of the Federation’s carrier to carry out her orders.

>CAPTAIN, INTERCEPTOR UNITS REPORT FORTY PERCENT OF LONGSWORDS REMAIN

>THE FIRST OF THE SERAPH UNITS HAVE DISEMBARKED PLANETSIDE

>OPERATIONAL SUCCESS CALCULATED AT NINETY-THREE PERCENT AND CLIMBING

“Thank you, Sunstrider, but we’re not finished yet. Relay satellite data to ground units and coordinate with them to ensure they arrive at the Federation landing zones. Be prepared to send additional units if more Longswords make for planetfall - in the meantime, deploy orbital point defense stations above the planetoids, at the very least we can make it more difficult for them to interfere,” Star Wind remarked as she keyed the orders through the network.

The bow-mounted tubes were filled with the miniature point defense stations, the payload loaded and ready for deployment. After filling in the targeting solutions, the stations were launched into the void of space and elegantly sailed off towards the ring, each one arching off towards one of the thirty planetoids in the ring. One by one they came into a natural orbit around the planetoids and deployed their weaponry, providing a static defense as they slowly orbited their target planets.

>BOARDING UNITS HAVE ARRIVED

>LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARE DISABLED

>GRAVITY IS DISABLED

>ALL PROPULSION SYSTEMS ARE OFFLINE

>THE SHIP HAS BEGUN ORBITAL DECAY

>THE REMAINS WILL IMPACT THE GAS GIANT IN T-MINUS ONE HOUR

“Make sure all Seraph units are off the ship before that happens, Sunstrider. Prioritize the rescue of noncombatants if no other tactical objectives can be accomplished,” Star Wind instructed as she finally opened her lenses and drifted back into her body, leaving the network behind. The entire battle had taken less than half an hour, and the only losses that her cluster had suffered were interceptor units, all of which were backed up to the network already. Satisfied with the outcome, she let out a digital sigh as she disconnected herself from the captain’s chair and stepped up to the forward viewscreen with her hands tucked behind her back.

>CAPTAIN, GROUND TEAMS ONE, THREE, FOUR AND FIVE HAVE MADE CONTACT

>FEDERATION GROUND UNITS HAVE BEEN ENGAGED AT THEIR LANDING SITES

“And what about ground team two?” Star Wind asked as she gazed out into the void, watching as the remains of the Federation carrier gently drifted through space with a trail of slag behind it.

>GROUND TEAM TWO IS IN PURSUIT

>THEIR TARGET CRASH-LANDED OFF COURSE

>SATELLITES ARE RECEIVING INTERFERENCE FROM THE SURFACE OF THAT PLANET.

“Which planet?” Star Wind asked curiously.

>HIGHLIGHTED NOW, CAPTAIN

>THE LOCALS HAVE NAMED IT ERILLIA