"Mims, you motherless son!" Lissa shouted into the comm. "What took you so long!"

The Random Encounter's guns joined The Wandering Lady's, punching through the second Corvette. The remaining Klaath ignored the death of its fellows, lancing beam fire into the fighter in front of it. The Encounter's shields were down to fifty three percent, and falling rapidly. Yvian's own ship had less than a single percent of shielding left.

"It's good to see you too, kiddo." Mims sounded oddly amused for a man in mortal danger."How've you been?" His shields had dropped to thirty one percent.

"Can we cut the banter until we're not about to die?" Yvian asked. "We're in a fight right now."

"It's fine," the human told her. "I did the math." Their ships' combined fire shattered the Corvette's shields, pummeling it into debris. The Encounter's shields were down to four percent, but it had suffered no hull damage. "See?"

"Great," Yvian quipped. "But what are we gonna do about the next fight? Our shields are almost gone."

"I got it covered," Mims replied. "Any Klaath coming for us now are in for a rude awakening."

Five ships came out of the Jumpgate. Three battlecruisers, one destroyer, and one carrier. IFF listed the destroyer's name as The Rude Awakening. Yvian rolled her eyes. "How long have you been waiting to make that pun?"

"Years. The chance doesn't come up as often as you'd think." As Yvian watched, two frigates uncoupled from each of the battlecruisers. Fighter class ships started spilling out of the carrier.

"Where'd you get all these ships?" Lissa asked.

"I've been privateering for twenty years," He told her. "The best ships I capture I keep for myself."

"Is that The Beefcake?" Yvian examined one of the cruisers. It was fully outfitted with RAA guns. "I thought we sold that one."

"We did." The human confirmed. "We sold it to me. It's The Gunzerker, now."

"The Gunzerker?" Yvian could hear Lissa rolling her eyes. "Really?"

"It's a better name than Beefcake," Mims defended.

"I don't think it is."

The new ships fanned out, moving away from the Gate. The Gunzerker came towards Yvian. Two frigates followed it. The other four frigates circled The Rude Awakening. Forty medium fighters stayed with the carrier, named Transfer of Force. The other forty broke into two groups, escorting the remaining cruisers.

Yvian's comm chirped, but the message wasn't for her. Mims had patched them into his communication network. A gravelly voice growled, "Mimsycake? Is that you?" Lissa took off her helmet long enough to mouth "Mimsycake?" at Yvian. Yvian shrugged and spread her hands.

"Admiral Fightsmart?" the human replied. "I didn't know you were in charge of this sector."

"Never thought I'd be happy seeing human," The Admiral admitted. "Good you came. These your ships? Need them. Three Gates almost broke."

"I've got a force at each gate," Mims assured him. Yvian checked long range sensors. Three fleets were engaging Klaath, similar to the one she'd already seen. "I'm sending you a rental contract. Fees are waived, but it says you'll return my ships when the Incursion's dealt with."

"No reimbursement for loss," the Admiral stated. "But survivors will be returned. You have word of Fightsmart."

"Good enough," the human agreed. "Passing control now. I'm keeping The Gunzerker and two frigates with me, though. I'm going to do a little hunting."

"Good hunting. Win and eat cake." Admiral Fightsmart ended transmission.

"You called him?" Yvian accused Lissa.

"I hired him," Lissa clarified. "How do you think he knew to come here?"

"It's a good thing she did," Mims mentioned. "I was twenty sectors away when this started. I wouldn't even know about it if Lissa hadn't called."

"How'd you get here so fast then?" Yvian demanded.

She could almost hear him shrug. "Jumpdrive."

"Of course you have a Jumpdrive." The motherless son...

"Jumpdrives," he corrected. "Plural. How do you think I got these other ships here? That's why I had to keep you waiting, Lissa. Coordinating this many ships takes a while."

The frigates started firing. Beams of deadly light lanced through the void. Raiders, Fighters, and Klusters were the targets. The beam frigates switched from target to target rapidly, engaging the enemy at far greater distances than pulsed weapons were capable of. They dusted the closer Klaath in seconds, then moved on to the ones escorting a Frigate. The Frigate continued it's approach, ignoring the loss of it's escort. It would be in firing range in twelve minutes.

The Gunzerker wasn't willing to wait.

Forty eight Rapid Artillery Arrays opened fire at a range of fifty kilometers. The Frigate tried to evade, but could not move fast enough to escape the death cone. The ship was hammered into rubble inside of thirty seconds.

"Crunch," said Lissa. "I can see why you kept that thing."

"RAA guns are restricted Military tech," Mims agreed. "Gunzerker's the only ship I've got that has them. They're a little weaker than standard heavy cannon, but they outrange anything short of a beam weapon. Gunzerker's perfect for fighting Klaath. We'll swat whole fleets out of the sky."

"Is that what we're doing next?" Yvian asked. "Swatting fleets out of the sky?"

"It's what I'm doing next," the human clarified. "You should stay with the fleet, and be ready to hit the Gate if things go bad."

"I don't see that happening," Yvian had no intention of being left out of the fight.

"It's the smart play," Mims pointed out. "You don't have the shielding to take on Klaath capitol ships, and you're not fast enough to outrun them, either. At the Gate you can run if you need to, and you'll be able to put your firepower to use."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I don't see that happening," Yvian repeated. "And you work for me."

"Technically, he works for me," Lissa interjected.

"The job is to keep you two alive," the human stated. "Following orders isn't part of the deal."

"Maybe not," Yvian ceded, "But if you want to do your job you'll have to follow me." She plotted a course for the nearest group of Klaath.

"God damn it, Yvian, don't be a child!" The human snapped. "The Lady's a glass cannon. She's made to defend herself against small groups of fighters. This is some Very Dangerous shit. You won't survive."

"I think you're underestimating me," Yvian said.

"Am I?" the humans voice went deadly cold. "Then why did I just have to save your life? Again."

"Fuck you, Mims." Yvian snarled. "I'm going and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Sis..." Lissa interjected.

"No!" Yvian stopped her. "He doesn't get to look down on us. We don't work for him anymore."

"You want to go? Fine." Mims was pissed. "You do what I say, when I say."

"Not happening," Yvian replied. "I'm done taking orders from you."

"Will you at least come aboard the Encounter and control the Lady remotely?" The human tried to speak more calmly, but anger still bled through. "That way we could use the jumpdrive if things go sideways."

"I'm not leaving my ship," Yvian asserted.

"Fine," Mims gave up. "Fuck you, too. Lissa, I'm canceling our contract. Some people are just too stupid to live." He cut the transmission.

Lissa removed her helmet, regarding Yvian with steady disapproval. "Really, Sis?"

"He's being an asshole."

"You're being insecure," Lissa countered. "You know he's right. We almost died a minute ago."

"I don't need to be rescued," Yvian growled. "I've got skills."

"What you've got is an ego trip," Lissa told her. "You're mad the human had to save us and you're jealous he's got a jumpdrive and now you're trying to prove you're just as good as he is." She folded her arms. "Mark's right. You are being a child."

Yvian checked the sensors. Gunzerker and The Random Encounter were moving away from her, flanked by the two frigates. "Looks like Mims was serious about canceling the contract."

"Of course he was," Lissa replied. "Mark's always serious about the job." She sighed. "We really should take him up on his offer, you know. We'll be a lot safer on the Encounter."

"Go join up with him if you want," Yvian told her. "I'm not leaving my ship."

"You know what?" Lissa put her helmet back on. "I think I will."

As Lissa started to walk off the bridge, Yvian warned, "I'm not letting him dock."

"Fine." Lissa kept walking. "I'll voidwalk. He'll come pick me up." She paused. "You know, Sis, if you're going to go fight the Klaath by yourself, it might be a good idea to let your shields recharge, first."

Yvian glanced at her ship status. Her shields were only up to eight percent. She suddenly felt very foolish. She turned back and called to her sister. "Lissa? Lissa! Wait!" Lissa ignored her and kept walking.

Yvian considered hailing the human, asking to join him on his ship. She reached for the comms, but stopped just short of making the call. It was too embarrassing. Yvian knew it was foolish, but she had her pride. She didn't have it in her to back down so soon after an argument.

Yvian did plot a course to follow the human's fleet. As much as she hated to admit it, attacking the Klaath alone would be suicide. Yvian was hard headed, but she wasn't that hard headed.

True to her word, Lissa jumped out of an airlock in her voidarmor. The Random Encounter picked her up. The human's fleet continued on its way, heedless of the cargo ship following in its wake. Fortunately, The Gunzerker was much slower to accelerate than the Lady, and the other ships were careful not to outpace it. Yvian muttered to herself as she accelerated to catch up.

The frigates fired continuously. They had dusted every smaller craft within two hundred kilometers with no sign of slowing down. The Gunzerker trundled along. Even at max acceleration it was only able to increase its speed by ten meters a second or so. Yvian's ship was over ten times faster, but the battlecruiser made up for its abysmal mobility with overwhelming firepower. Klaath Corvettes were closing in on the fleet every couple of minutes, and every couple of minutes The Gunzerker would swat them out of the sky.

Instead of heading for the nearest Klaath, as Yvian had expected, the human's fleet made it's slow way away from the Gate, the planet, and everything else in the sector, aiming for deep space. It took twenty minutes for the pixen's curiosity to overcome her previous embarrassment, but she eventually called Mims and asked why.

"Good question," He spoke casually. Yvian guessed he'd decided to ignore their previous argument. "Patch me in to your sensor screen and I'll show you." Yvian did as he asked. Her display zoomed in on a group of Destroyers with Klusters zooming around them. "This is where we're headed."

"That's...a lot of Destroyers," Yvian observed. "Are you sure we can take that many?"

"We absolutely can't," Mims admitted. "But that's where we gotta go."

"Why would we..." Yvian trailed off as realization struck. "A Queenship," she guessed. "You think they're going to portal in a Queenship."

"Exactly," The comms were silent for a moment as a Frigate came barreling in towards the fleet, escorted by thirty Corvettes. The Gunzerker chewed them to pieces before they could get close enough to fire.

"Ok," Mims continued. "Here's a quick lesson. The Klaath are fast, aggressive, and have zero instinct for self preservation. They'll attack anything that comes within two hundred kilometers of them, regardless of the odds. A lone Raider will attack an entire fleet by itself."

"I already know all this," Yvian cut in.

"Probably," Mims agreed. "But Lissa doesn't, and it won't hurt to listen in."

Yvian didn't say anything.

"Moving on," Mims took her silence as assent. "A standard Incursion involves anywhere from thirty thousand to a hundred twenty thousand ships. This... this is a lot more than that." Yvian's screen shifted to an overview of the sector. "We're looking at a little over six million of the bastards. The only reason they haven't killed us all already is they're spread all through the sector and most of them aren't doing anything."

The screen shifted back into focus on a group of Klusters floating by themselves. "Klusters and the ships that make them are mindless drones, and Corvettes aren't much better. No tactics, no teamwork, just floating around until they see something to shoot at.

The screen shifted to show a pair of Frigates. A group of Corvettes, Interceptors, and Raiders were flying around them in an escort formation. "Frigates are different. They can use basic teamwork and command small groups of other Klaath. Frigates group small fleets together and attack the nearest target. Doesn't matter how far away that target is."

The screen shifted back to show the first group of Destroyers. "Destroyers are the generals of the Klaath. They're smart, tactical, and can control hundreds of other Klaath at a time. They tend to group together and form big ass fleets with thousands of ships. You don't usually see more than forty or so Destroyers in an Incursion. We've got hundreds in the sector right now."

"So..." Lissa drawled, "That's bad. What are they doing?"

"A couple of things." Yvian's screen shifted again, showing different groups of Klaath. "Looks like we've got groups of ten Destroyers each putting fleets together and running at the Gates. We've got another ten each going after each Station in the sector, and a solid fifty of them making a run at Krog Prime's planetary defenses. We've got a little under a hundred floating around on their own picking up other ships."

The screen shifted back to their destination. "The rest of them are like these bastards. They're picking a spot out of the way and bringing in large groups of Klusters and Frigates. I see eight groups scattered around the sector. Looks like they're getting ready to Portal in some Queenships."

"Queenships?" Lissa asked. "As in, more than one?"

"Looks that way." Mims sounded grim. "We've never seen more than one Queenship in an Incursion. The damn things are over five hundred kilometers long, with enough firepower to take on a full Confed fleet by themselves. They're slow as hell, and it takes a little over seven hours to cross a portal, but once it gets a third of the way it'll coordinate every Klaath ship in the sector. We have to shut the door on it before that happens."

"Which is why we're flying face first at sixty Destroyers," Yvian remarked. "Shouldn't we be bringing more ships?"

Mims grunted. "Would if I could. We can't leave the Gates unguarded. If it's any comfort, all of Fightsmart's ships are facing similar odds." Yvian checked on the sensors. The Military fleets that had originally been on their way to protect the Gates had all changed course. One of the fleets had split in half. Two other fleets had already been hunting Klaath in the sector. All told, seven fleets sought to engage seven groups of Destroyers, hoping to close the door before a Queenship could come through. The eighth group was being left to Mims and Yvian. None of the other fleets would be able to reach it on time.

"Similar odds?" Yvian disagreed. "The smallest Confed fleet has a hundred fifty ships. We've got five. How is that similar?"

"The other fleets don't have The Gunzerker." She could hear his predatory smile. "And they don't have me."

"You mean us," Yvian corrected. "The other fleets don't have us."

"No, I meant me," Mims disagreed. "You're presence is mostly a handicap."

"I hate you."

"I missed you, too, Yvian."