Elseph watched a feed of the Laughing Comet's arrival, just where they'd predicted. The human acting as her aide looked over at her expectantly. "Should we jump in and ambush them?"

  The AI in human skin shook her head. "No, let them dock and wait for them to be mid-loading before we jump in. That way, they won't have the time to react, and we can take them unaware."

  The human nodded his assent, though Elseph noticed he kept his eyes on her longer than was usual for a human. Though Luise had explained that as her aide, it was his job to be extra attentive to her needs, so perhaps he was just attempting to fulfill his role. Admirable, even if it was futile for a human to try and keep up with the needs of an AI like herself.

  The Boss had ensured that the militia forces would be elsewhere, tied up in one way or another to prevent them from being a factor in the coming fight. If they could then disable the Laughing Comet before they had a chance to break off the station, they'd force the Sybil into either charging in suicidally to save its ally or abandon them, cutting themselves off from an essential source of supplies and resources.

  A flutter in the chemical makeup of the body she was in told Elseph Luise was not so confident. Admittedly, Elseph had been somewhat concerned, but now that the Laughing Comet was here and docking with the station, everything seemed to be going according to plan.

  Elseph waited a bit longer, allowing time for the ship to commit to loading and unloading whatever cargo they were after. Surprisingly, they seemed to be docked at a bay meant for a much larger cargo ship, but it's not like they could get the supplies on board the ship any faster just because the room they were coming from was so much larger. After enough time had passed, she nodded toward the aide to get his attention. "Send in the first wave."

  The aide nodded and turned to reiterate her orders to the relevant ships. It was such an inefficient way of doing things. How had Organics even made it this far without AI like her to hold their hands? It boggled the mind.

  -

  Alen was surprised it was taking so long. Maybe they'd overthought things, and it had been a simple mix-up with no grand scheme... Of course, as soon as the thought entered his head, an alert chimed, and the ops officer looked up. "Incoming, sir, looks like two medium ships and two large. Less than a minute out."

  Less than a minute? Then they'd been close by. Still, this was a far smaller force than anticipated, meaning they probably had more in reserve. Alen nodded to Commander Reid. "Get us out of here and ready to fight, but keep us under the station's shields for now." Then, turning to the comms officer, he added. "Notify our friends and have them on standby; it's pretty much what we thought."

  There was a flurry of activity on the bridge as everyone lept to action. Of course, the ship hadn't fully committed to docking, so breaking away from the station only took a few seconds. They might have damaged the docking attachment slightly in their haste, but they could pay for repairs if it came to that.

  A moment later, the comms officer looked up. "Sir, the station manager wants to speak with you."

  Alen nodded. "Patch him through."

  A moment later, the manager was on the screen before Alen. "It's as you said, captain! Are you certain you can handle this? It looks like an awfully big fight is headed our way! I already tried contacting the militia, but there's no one available!"

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Alen shrugged. "There are no certainties out here, but we've got some backup incoming that'll tip the scales in our favor. We just need to buy some time. Are all the preparations complete on your end?"

  The station manager looked to the side for confirmation before turning back to Alen and nodding. "Yes, they are. I won't lie; I thought you were insane when you first requested this, but it seems you knew what you were asking for!"

  Alen smiled and nodded. "Well, with a bit of luck, we'll both come out of this better off. Good luck to you, sir."

  The station manager nodded. "You as well, Captain!"

  Then, the feed cut off just as the ships came out of FTL.

  -

  Elseph frowned as the feed from the initial assault group showed the Laughing Comet already free of its tethers and waiting for the incoming fight. Strangely, they hadn't run yet, which probably meant the Sybil was close. That's alright. They'd already taken that possibility into account.

  Turning to her aide, Elseph issued her orders. "Tell the destroyers to keep their distance as long as the Laughing Comet plays defensively like that and let the battleships bombard the station's shields. As soon as they show large incoming vessels, have them notify us and spread out to make it impossible to focus on more than one ship at a time. They're probably nearby, and we'll only get a minute or two to act."

  The aide nodded his understanding and went off to reissue her orders again, like a good little drone. Elseph had to admit humans weren't all bad. It was pretty satisfying to watch them skitter around to live up to her expectations of them.

  -

  Alen watched as the battleships both rained down fire on the station. The enemy probably assumed the Sybil was on the way, but it was time to punish them for their assumptions. "Send the signal."

  The Laughing Comet fired off a missile. It streeked toward the closest battleship, and as predicted, they opened fire on the projectile, shooting it out of the sky. But this wasn't the standard high-yield missile designed to punch through shields and hulls. Instead, it had been loaded with an inordinate amount of incendiary material, and it blew up spectacularly once hit by the incoming countermeasures directed its way, lighting up its section of space quite brilliantly. A mere second later, the light was blocked by an immense shadow, and a colossal vessel appeared as if by magic out of nowhere.

  The Sybil all but evaporated the first battleship and a nearby destroyer with its overwhelming firepower. They hadn't even had time to power up their shields. The second pair of ships managed to get their shields up in time to block all but a handful of shots directed their way. It was pretty impressive, considering they'd just witnessed something that must seem like a complete impossibility.

  Alen turned to Reid. "Take us out of the station's shield to support the Sybil. We'll focus on defensive fire and suppression so they can put everything into cleaning up the stragglers before the next wave arrives."

  Reid nodded with grim satisfaction. "Aye, Captain."

  -

  Elseph froze for a fraction of a second as she processed the complete impossibility of what she'd just witnessed. The organics probably thought the Sybil appeared instantly, but there had been just a fraction of a second of an incoming FTL signature. That meant they'd been in the system. But there was no way such a massive ship could have hidden in the system without its arrival being detected, and the Boss had kept eyes on this place since before the Laughing Comet had been denied its first cargo shipment. Had the Boss betrayed her? What else could explain their presence in the system?

  Taking another fraction of a second to analyze the image, Elseph realized one side of the Sybil was literally glowing red, as if it had been exposed to an intense heat of some kind... She shook her head, thinking to herself, They couldn't have... That would just be insane! But there was no other explanation for it; they must have jumped in right next to the system's star some time ago! Close enough to not be detected by any in-system surveillance! To the automated scanning most stations and ships directed toward in-system stars, it must have appeared to be the formation of a minor, unremarkable sunspot! That's why the Laughing Comet had fired that light show! The Sybil was too close to the star to get any signal or readings and must have relied on a visual cue! It...it...it was too unbelievable! No one with an ounce of self-preservation would have attempted something so suicidal! But no other explanation fit!

  After a handful of seconds of dumbfounded processing, anger, admiration, and frustration, Elseph shook herself out of her shocked state and issued her orders. "Send everything in, now!"