I was on the bridge. It had been a few days since the battle, and I was defacto captain while Wekword was aboard the Nile. The captains and above were having a meeting to decide what to do.

  There was still life on the inhabited planet. Army personnel and some airforce units were on ground and holding the line, but they were alone. Before the cruiser and her escorts went down, they had been in system, killing the planets population. They had air supremacy and void supremacy, so no civilians had been able to evacuate...

  But, that was above my head. I rechecked the reports, and grimaced. We had to cannibalize destroyed ships to patch up the hull, but we were closed to the void. Our destroyed guns were still gone, and would need a proper drydock to repair.

  It looked, from what I had seen, like some giant ripped a gigantic part of the bow off. We had luckily gotten resupplied, so our ammo was good for our coilguns. Ironically enough, we were faster now that we had a giant fucking chunk off too, so small mercy's I suppose.

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  "Captain, I have another sensor ghost off our starboard bow." The sensor operator said.

  "God damn it, again?? I ask. "Ok, report it to the Nile and ask for a flyby. Now, ETA on the captains return?" I asked.

  "He's in a pelican, preping for return, Commander." He said.

  "Ok. Oh, and get a visual look at the ghost. Once is a coincidence, but twice? In the same area? Time for a more thorough look." I said.

  "Ay commander."

  I passed my time checking, then rechecking reports. Everything was... ok. Not great, not terrible. The armor was weaker in damaged areas, but there was actual armor. So-

  "Commander, pelican on intercept course."

  "Excellent, prepare to receive-"

  "Commander, I got something..."

  The ensign pulled up his feed and shared it to me. A point defense gun was looking at something, and as I watched, I thought I saw something faint... I didn't like it.

  "Guns, turn and watch. Fire that gun. Fill the general area. Get the Nile on the line." I ordered flatly. My nonexistent knee was tingling. This smelled off...

  The M710 began spitting metal into open void. By commands given by the sensor operator, the gun spit tracers into nothing. Until it hit something.

  I watched as the void shuddered, and sensors got a return.

  "COMMANDER-"

  "ALL GUNS OP-

  The stealth ship gunned it, opening fire.