Megumi watched Melia through the sensor feeds as she finished up her little diversion. She was also glad the girl was starting to think clearly again. Megumi was hoping the girl didn’t attack anyone else. Her directives required her to protect both her crew and her captain. Which meant that this little situation created a conflict in her directives. Which played a role in why she had brought the probe. She prioritized directives based on their number. As such protecting the captain was of higher priority than protecting the crew. In this case she determined that by using a tag to influence Erisa into accepting the role of captain’s playmate would be the best move. As Melia left the room for her quarters the probe entered the room.

The floating device approached the passed out, and a flipped her over before using a manipulator to inject a tag near the base of her spine. Using its glowing blue tendril like manipulators it flipped her back over and tucked her into her sheets afterwards before leaving. Erisa slept until midday, and woke up a little confused. Shortly after she woke up, Megumi materialized her holographic avatar. This time she went the extra step, and made it an interactive hologram.

“How are you feeling?” asked Megumi.

“Surprisingly I feel great,” said Erisa as she inspected herself,” I expected to feel sore and maybe see some bruises. Now may I ask why you made her attack me that way?”

“That was all her. The link amplified some of her traits, and she inherited the Solean sex drive. Soleans are quite active sexually, and they see it differently than other races do. Did I mention that the Soleans actually choose when they procreate. Oh I didn’t? Well anyway when they want a child, sex is merely a step in the process. First the female must prepare her eggs to receive sperm. Otherwise she is completely infertile. Personally I find the entire process quite fascinating. I also find the life cycle of Star Dragons, who are similar quite interesting as well,” said Megumi.

“Star Dragon? What is a Star Dragon?” asked Erisa.

“Star Dragons are a large flying reptile capable of starflight. They belong to a category of life called a terrestrial space dweller. Meaning they begin life on a terrestrial type planet, before moving into space. Star Dragons are predators and they spend a significant chunk of their life cycle in space. Often migrating from one world to another within what they consider their territory. Their most notable characteristics are their strong bodies, their powerful mental abilities, and their most powerful weapon is their breath. Many worlds have legends of a fire breathing lizard and these creatures are the source of said legends,” answered Megumi.

“I have heard of such creatures and we have found a few beings that are similar to what you describe, but not capable of star flight,” said Erisa.

“Well there are some degenerate cousins that aren’t capable of star flight. Dragons species can be sorted into eight separate families along two branches. Anyway back to the main topic. I would like you to be Melia’s playmate, and help keep her from causing trouble. At least until she learns to suppress her urges,” said Megumi. Erisa argued a bit over the subject, but ultimately accepted. The tag barely even mattered, as she had accepted with only minimal influence from the tag. Megumi guessed that she actually liked the idea, and may have enjoyed what happened earlier. Their conversation was brought to an abrupt end when suddenly a number of klaxons went off and a series of red light strips came on and started flashing intermittently.

“What is going on?” asked Erisa.

“Three hundred ships matching your description of modern Neku ship design just entered the system and have engaged your task force. I suggest you report to the temporary command center. Melia is already there,” replied Megumi.

“Three hundred ships? Sounds like a full battlegroup, we don’t have enough ships to deal with that. What is your status?” asked Erisa as she hurriedly put on her uniform and ran out of the room.

“I have restored structural integrity and my internal repair systems. Hull plating has been partially restored, and my sublights have also been partially restored. I have also restored low warp capability. As long as you don’t mind plodding along at warp four we can go just about anywhere you want,” said Megumi.

“In that case, I think you should get out of here. We can’t risk you being sunk,” said Erisa as she hurried down the corridor towards the nearest tram lift.

“I have already scanned their armament. Even in my current state, they do not represent a significant threat. They barely have enough firepower to scratch my plating. Xeos alloy is the toughest material known to our science, and it is very hard to damage. Besides while I haven’t restored any of my plasma weapons, I have managed to get some of my disruptor banks back online. Melia and I have agreed on engaging the hostile battlegroup,” said Megumi.

“Disruptors? Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t those anti-hull weapons?” said Erisa remembering a lecture on weapon types and what they were good at. Disruptors were a common type of energy weapon that are widely employed by many races. Disruptors were well known for disrupting the molecular integrity of their target. Which led to the target disintegrating, but while they were very effective against physical matter they weren’t all that effective against energy fields. This meant they were often paired with another weapon for rapidly bringing energy shields down.

“While disruptors are anti-hull weapons that doesn’t stop them from punching through energy shields. They just aren’t very good at it. My disruptors are quite powerful needed to be given what my normal enemies carry. I scanned their shields, and they won’t be able to fully block the beam. Anyway I will let you see for yourself how powerful my weapons really are,” said Megum as Erisa left the lift. A quick run later, and she entered the control room they were using as a temporary bridge. On the screens she could see their task force was indeed engaged with Neku warships. Space was lit up with an exchange of plasma and particle weapons fire, but it was quite obvious who was winning. The Erali ships were outnumbered and outgunned. So it came as no surprise that of the seventeen ships in the task force they had already lost eight. Nor was it a surprise that they hadn’t sunk anyone yet.

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“Disruptors are locked,” reported Megumi.

“Fire at will,” replied Melia drawing the command from the link. Instantly a number of ports on the outer hull of the Constellation began to glow an eerie green. Than a beam lanced out at the nearest Neku cruiser. Its shields flared to protect against the beam, but some of it got through. An instant later the entire ship vanish in flash of light. A second quickly followed as it was struck by the second shot.

“That ship! Why did it explode like that?” asked Erisa confused, as she was pretty sure its shields were still up when it exploded.

“My disruptors aren’t your garden variety disruptor. Mine disrupt the subatomic bonds of the target matter, resulting in a rather powerful energy reaction,” replied Megumi as she targeted another cruiser for devastating effect.

“Are you saying that you are carrying some kind of fission beam? As in your weapons cause the target to undergo nuclear fission?” asked Erisa.

“Not quite, nuclear fission is simple atom splitting. In this case, the beam completely reduces the atoms of the target to subatomic particles. As such the only radiations produced by the process is gamma radiation and neutron radiation. The protons and electrons however will be attracted to each other and quickly rebing resulting in a cloud of expanding hydrogen being the result of the blast,” said Megumi. Erisa just stood there thinking of the absurdity of the weapons this ship had, with no idea how to respond. The energy requirements alone were daunting, and while she wasn’t a scientist she had been stuck babysitting them enough to understand the implications. By the time she had rebooted the skirmish was over.

POV: Random Neku Captain

“We are secure from hyperlight velocity, sir,” reported her helm officer. She leaned back in her chair, and then gave an order to scan the system.

“Looks like intel was right. We have detected eighteen ships in system. Seventeen ships of standard Erali design, and one ship of unknown design. The Erali ships are currently heading for the local jump point, we can intercept them easily, sir,” said her operations/science officer.

“What about the unknown?” asked the captain.

“She is in a stable orbit around the local primary. I’m detecting minimal power signatures, and her hull appears to be in bad shape. She quite frankly looks like an ancient wreck. It doesn’t look like they have managed to restore the ship, yet,” replied the same officer. Looking at the plot she could deduce that the ship would be a limited threat thanks to its position. It also looked to her that they had managed to get the drop on the Erali. As their ships were only now charging their weapons and raising shields. She guessed the fleet was most likely making for the jump point for a supply run. Unlike the Neku who used hyperdrive, the Erali used jump drives which were faster, but limited by jump lanes. Which could be accessed by jump points or nodes as they were called. Early hyperdrives had been limited by points in space called hyper nodes, where the boundary between normal space and hyperspace was weaker. Modern drives were more powerful and could transition almost anywhere, but were still inhibited by gravity wells.

“The flag has signaled all ships to intercept the Erali task force,” reported her ops officer.

“Helm maintain position in formation and intercept the target,” ordered the captain. The next few minutes went well, and they easily caught up with the smaller Erali force. Managing to quickly overwhelm and destroy several of the smaller escorts on contact. Then suddenly a bright flash filled the sky, and the cruiser in front of hers was gone. Several of her crew panicked including her helmsman who immediately through the ship into a wild series of evasive maneuvers. She herself also felt a brief surge of fear, but her experience let her squash it. Panic never did any good, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t startled.

Her voice shaky she asked, “What happened?”

“I’m not sure, but the ancient wreck has opened fire with some kind of weapon. It looks like a disrupter of some type,” said her science officer clearly shaken. She didn’t blame him and another flash of light filled their screens signaling the destruction of another cruiser. She ordered the officer to transfer the data to her station. A quick glance through astonished her. It was definitely a disruptor, but it was so powerful that it was just ripping through their shields. She input a command to the computer to analyze the readings and remodulate the shields. She guessed the computer if it succeed might buy them an extra hit, maybe two if they were lucky of protection. Then she left the captains seat, and moved to the helm. To calm the panicking helmsman. She didn’t even get their, before she saw a green-orange beam cross the screen and slam into the flagship. The mid-size battleship was instantly engulfed in a bright flash of light, and when it faded the only thing left where the ship was, was an expanding cloud of dust.

Following protocol she ordered the comm officer to signal all ships to retreat, and then rather than calm her helm officer she had the older officer next to him restrain him, before taking the controls herself. She engaged a new sequence of evasive maneuvers and then transferred everything she could to the hyperdrive. The computer finished remodulating the shields, while she was transfering power so she left them on and had the reconfiguration transmitted to fleet. However she had shut down the weapons, life support, internal gravity, and everything else she deemed they didn’t need at just this minute. That way the drive could charge as quickly as possible. Even so the drive seemed to take an eternity to charge, and ever few seconds she watched as another ship vanished from the screens. The reconfigured shields seemed to be helping her sister ships, but as she had suspected it only bought them an extra hit. Still that had allowed a few to escape imminent destruction.

She watched the screen as yet another of the ships exploded from a direct hit to the hull. There was nothing she could do about it. She glanced at the drive indicator and it was at 98% just a few more seconds and they would be clear of the system. She was praying the ship would keep ignoring them, but with each passing second her ship being targeted was becoming more and more likely. Over half the battle group had been sunk, and most of them were heavier ships like hers. Suddenly she felt a jolt, and alarms began screaming. A quick glance at the screen showed they had been hit, and shields were down. She changed maneuver patterns, and then a green-orange beam ripped past them into space. Then the hyperdrive hit full, and she punched the system. Almost instantly a window opened in front of the ship, and they transitioned to hyperspace, an energy reading on the screens telling her that they just narrowly avoided another beam, but a sister ship wasn’t so lucky and was hit by that beam. She set the ship on a course for the nearest friendly outpost and then barked for a status report.

“That hit completely fried the shields the entire system needs to be replaced, and we have lost twelve decks. Along with a significant chunk of the port side of the hull. Emergency bulkheads are holding, but we are looking at several months of refitting,” reported one of her engineering officers. Everything considered she felt they had been lucky, and the moment she reached her normal chair she slumped in relief. While considering what to do when they reached port.