The space battle raged on as I dropped out of hyperspace, the first of my fleet to make it. As soon as I entered the area, my ship entered battle mode, and two blue circles surrounded my hands with a line through each of them. The projection changed as well and showed a full three-sixty view of my surroundings from my bridge with aiming reticles that tracked my eyes and projected where my cannons were aimed. I raised my hands to chest level and spread my fingers, making a set of screens appeared before me with two on either side of me that listed my ship’s weapons and one in front of me listing general information.

Ship Status

Power Distribution:

* Weapons: 10%/80%

* Engines: 80%/80%

* Shields: 10%/80%

Speed: 1,000 Mm/Sec

Hull: 100%

Reactor Core: 100%

Comms: 100%

Shields: 100%

Engines: 100%

Sensors: 100%

Life Support: 100%

Total: 100%

Port

Forward Neutron Cannons Charge: 20%

Port Neutron Laser Cannons Charge: 20%

AA Flack Cannons Charge: 15%

Port Missle Bays: 100x

Port Shields: 50%

Port Engines: 100%

Starboard

Forward Neutron Cannons Charge: 20%

Starboard Neutron Laser Cannons Charge: 20%

AA Flack Cannons Charge: 15%

Starboard Missle Bays: 100x

Starboard Shields: 50%

Starboard Engines: 100%

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I immediately set my power distribution to 40% weapons, 20% engines, and 40% shields and quickly noted the change in stats. From 20% charge on cannons and turrets and half shields to 80% charge on all weapons, 90% shields, and 30% engines. At that moment, I noticed my stealth frigates appear on my display in my periphery, followed by the rest of my fleet.

I opened comms and received a flood of my commanders saying, “Standing by.”

With a smile, I addressed my fleet, “Men! We are here not as feeble support for a single fleet, but we are here as conquerors! We will win the day and, in so doing, secure a foothold in the galaxy for the war to come! And as the goddess of death, I prohibit you all from death! You will be immortal for this battle and win us this war! TO VICTORY!! ATTACK!!” I yelled, and a flood of cheering filled the comms as the fleet responded and moved into their battle formation.

With a twitch of my little fingers, the Reaver began to accelerate, going faster and faster as I closed my hand, leaving my thumb, index, and middle fingers spread. “Betty, start my battle playlist,” I commanded my ship’s A.I., and my ancient taste in music showed as, ‘Man The Cannon,’ began blasting through the ship’s speakers.

The moment the enemy fleets came into range of my main cannons, I closed my index fingers, and a violet ripple of energy ran down the length of my ship as the main cannons charged and fired. Six spheres of energy raced forward at impossible speeds and impacted a frigate belonging to Fulger’s fleet, destroying its shields and damaging the hull, turning it red hot.

At this point, the fleets took notice of us and began defensive maneuvers. Not so fast. I fired again and seriously damaged another of Fulger’s ships as I entered the swarm of fighters and was soon attacked from all sides. My turrets began firing at the fighters defending me the best they could.

My manic smile spread across my lips as I said, “Betty, locate the enemy flagships.” Three dreadnaught class ships were immediately highlighted in red. One forward and to my right, a second one to my left and up, and the third above and straight ahead. “Send the information to the others while I clear the way,” I commanded and opened my hands to stop the ship’s momentum and line up my attacks.

Then, with a wave of my hands, like a conductor at a symphony, I attacked. My ship began evasive maneuvers as I waved my hands and fired beams of violet energy that began tearing through frigate shields on both sides of the conflict. The ship shook as it began taking too much damage, and I ignored it, directing my turrets to target bombers before attacking standard ships. I swiftly cut through the throng of ships as I fired my main cannons at the Draeger flagship, followed by a dozen missiles from my ship that followed the flight path of my opening attack.

“Oni! I’m opening a hole for you! Launch!” I commanded and added, “Monarch, send some support our way to help Oni.” At that moment, my opening shots tore through the Draeger flagship shields, followed by twelve missiles blasting through the hull of the ship and opening a literal hole for Oni to enter.

“On it,” Oni said over comms as she flew past the bridge of my ship in a VX-12, followed by a hundred blue-purple fighters from Monarch.

With that done, I swung the ship around to aim for the Eclipse flagship and accelerated. My turrets shredded through any fighters within range that got in my way while I fired my main cannons at any frigate that got within range. My ship shook again as the enemy frigates began firing at me, and I spared a glance at my shield’s power, reading 85% and dropping with every hit I took.

I turned my attention to the frigates on my starboard side and locked on to each of them before firing all broadside cannons in small irregular pulses that ripped their shields to shreds and began ripping the ships apart, destroying eight ships and crippling five others. Racing past the wreckage, I brought the Eclipse flagship into view and fired my main cannons, eviscerating a cluster of fighters before devastating the flagship shields.

I fired another dozen missiles and said, “Adjani, go! You’re all clear!”

“Fuck, I hate flyin’,” Adjani said as his ship flew past, followed by another hundred of Monarch’s fighters.

I chuckled and fired my port cannons at a cluster of Eclipse frigates and a battleship that were surrounding my battleship, the Spear. The beams dealt enough damage to the frigates to weaken their shields, but the battleship hardly noticed anything. I cursed under my breath, “Damn, out of range,” before turning my ship around to close the distance and attack the battleship. “All ships! Re-group and defend the main fleet! We need to buy enough time for everyone to capture the flagships and win the battle! Adjani, Oni, Sparky, you’ve got ten minutes to capture them. Don’t fail.”

***