Blaring alarms slapped Yvian out of sleep. She bolted upright. Red lights flashed, strobing her quarters in the color of blood. Her heart pounded in her chest.

What The Crunch? Yvian had been dimly aware that the Random Encounter had alarm systems, but she'd never seen them used. What could be so important that someone had activated them now? Had the pirates found them?

"Attention, all hands," The human's voice thundered through the intercom. "This is the Captain speaking. All hands suit up and report to the bridge. Battle stations, people. It's time to rock and roll."

Yvian made a mental note to get the volume turned down on the intercom as she scrambled into her voidarmor. Her ears were ringing. Her eyes were still bleary with sleep, but adrenaline was waking her up fast. It had been quiet since they'd dropped Yasme off with the Oluken. Lissa had calmed back down to her old self, and they'd all fallen into a steady routine of training and making plans for the colonization of whatever planet the Xill gave them. Yvian had relished the relative normalcy, but she'd known it couldn't last.

Yvian thought furiously as she jogged to the bridge. The humans had come sniffing around the sector before. So far, they hadn't found the Captain's scan shielded asteroid. On the other hand, this had originally been an Akindi pirate base. It stood to reason that some other pirate might know where it is. The Captain's message hadn't carried the cool control he used when he was worried. If anything, he'd sounded pleased. Maybe even excited. That thought sent a shiver down Yvian's legs. She broke from a jog into a run.

Lissa must have had similar thoughts. She caught up to Yvian just before they reached the bridge. The Captain was waiting. He wasn't wearing his helmet. He greeted the sisters with a grin.

"Good morning ladies," said the human.

"What The Crunch is going on?" Lissa growled. Yvian supposed her sister didn't like being woken at 0300 hours any more than she did. The human's smile both reassured and irritated the pixens.

"What's going on," the Captain's smile turned predatory. "Is it's time to rock and roll." He gestured to a sensor panel.

Lissa removed her helmet and gave Mims a glare as she checked the sensor feed. Yvian crowded in to look. The feed came from the Recompense, which had been placed in the sector next to the Freedom Republic shortly after it was repaired. The ship was in stealth mode, passive sensors only, but that was more than enough to see the mass of ships plowing through the sector.

"What you're seeing," Mims narrated, "is forty thousand Confederation Military capitol ships. Five thousand of them are carriers, so we're looking at a fleet roughly three hundred thousand strong."

'You woke us up at 0318 hours for this?" Yvian griped. "I mean, it's nice that the Confed's moving, but..."

"I woke you up because we're going with them," Mims explained.

"I didn't think the Military would let privateers join an operation," Lissa frowned.

"They won't," said Mims. "We'll have to go in under stealth and stay out of the way." He ran a hand over the back of his head. "Even chances they'll shoot at us if they know we're there."

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Yvian folded her arms and frowned at him. "This sounds like a bad idea."

"Oh, it is," the human agreed, "but it took months for the Military to assemble this fleet and send it over. If they get their asses kicked, there won't be another one for half a year. I don't want to keep looking over my shoulder for that long." He grimaced. "We have to make sure the Confed wins. Failing that, we need to kill Barillas and destroy the XTRO outpost."

"Uh..." Yvian was dubious. "You do know there's just the three of us, right? I don't see how we can make that much of a difference."

"The Freedom Republic's got a bunch of human ships," Mims told her. "But I'd be surprised if they've got more than a thousand or so. Assuming the Military followed any of my recommendations, they can deal with most of them, but the YEET's will fuck them up." He pulled up flight controls and started maneuvering the Encounter out of the docking bay. "Unless someone kills the YEETs, first." His eyes gleamed. "Someone with a stealth cruiser full of MAC cannons, maybe."

"The other Ronin," Lissa guessed.

"The Symphony of Destruction," Mims confirmed. He grunted. "I didn't think the Military would get a force going this soon. Another two weeks and the fleet the Krog are building us would be ready. It would have been so satisfying to jump a fleet in at the last minute. We'd fuck them in their asses." He sighed. "Ah, well. Gotta work with what we have, I guess."

'I still don't know why you had to wake us up," Yvian groused. "You don't need help docking with the Symphony."

"Would you rather be naked and asleep while we enter a combat zone?" Mims asked.

"How do you know she sleeps naked?" Lissa demanded.

"She told me." Mims shrugged. "Apparently, she'd be naked all the time if she could."

Yvian flushed. She'd forgotten she'd said that. As much as she loved her voidarmor, she'd gotten tired of wearing it nonstop for over a year. She'd mentioned how nice it was to be on a station where she could sleep naked without fear of waking up in vacuum. The only reason she hadn't taken to walking around the station in the nude was because the Captain wouldn't appreciate it. Or worse, he would.

Mims had always respected Yvian's preference for women, but that didn't mean he didn't find her attractive. She'd noticed him noticing her more than once. Yvian doubted he would endanger their (platonic) friendship, but showing him the goods would make things... awkward. Also, Lissa would be pissed. She'd noticed him noticing, too.

"Besides," the Captain moved on. "We need our own fleet ready to go. Terran ships aren't as good without someone to work the MAC guns, but I'd rather have them available if this shit goes south. I want all systems checked, flight wings organized, and everything undocked and ready to jump before we go."

"It still could have waited," Lissa pointed out. She squinted at the sensors. "It'll take the Military another two days to cross the sector. We've got plenty of time."

Mims shrugged. "I'm not big on waiting til the last minute. We'll be able to catch up on sleep once we're trailing the fleet in stealth mode."

Yvian glowered at him. "You mean after we're in a combat zone?"

"You can still sleep."

"But not naked," Yvian glared at him. "You're ruining my naked time, Mims."

"No he isn't," Lissa decided. "Go back to bed, Sis. We'll get things going after breakfast."

"Excuse me?" Mims raised an eyebrow. "When did you become the Captain?"

"We'll be in a combat zone for at least two days," Lissa pointed out. "Yvian's not the only one that needs naked time."

"That doesn't mean you can..." Mims trailed off. He caught Lissa's look. "On second thought, naked time sounds like a good idea." He brought the Random Encounter to a stop. "We can get started after breakfast."

"After a late breakfast," Lissa corrected him. "You ruined my sleep with all the alarms and that stupid intercom."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Mims ran a hand over the back of his neck. He actually looked a little embarrassed. "I got excited."

"Not as excited as you're gonna be," Lissa told him. Yvian rolled her eyes at her sister's naughty grin.

"Oh yeah?" Mims quirked an eyebrow again. "Is it time to rock and roll?"

"Not if you keep saying that."

"Yeah, Mims," Yvian threw out. "Stop saying that. You're ruining naked time."

"Yeah," Lissa seconded. "Stop ruining naked time."