[center][h3][b]The Indomitus[/b][/h3][/center]
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The battle had evolved rapidly. With the Lance’s aggressive assault catching the pirates off-guard, and the [i]Indomitus’[/i] forces carving a path towards the stricken [i]Guildcrest Venture[/i].  Titus and the Baron held the center like twin anvils, drawing the enemy cores’ full attention, while Aria’s disciplined suppressive fire ensured that none of the routed pirates escaped the meat-grinder forming between them. The opening they created was decisive. Onyx-9 surged through it, and the support company was now reclaiming the merchant vessel room by room.

As she scanned the reports streaming in from the infantry, Lucia was satisfied with the rapid progress that Volger and his men were making. Resistance was collapsing, and the pirates were either being driven back, or pinned down in hopeless firefights against a superior force. It wouldn’t be long until the [i]Venture[/i] was once more firmly in Imperial hands. But her initial hopes of a swift conclusion to the battle were dashed by the data streaming in from the Phantom.

Lucia’s first reaction was surprise at just how much information Sharlin had managed to compress into such a narrow beam. The Phantom was already difficult for the Indomitus’ sensors to track under ideal conditions; maintaining such a minimal signature while conducting a comprehensive scan and transmitting it back bordered on audacious. It was the kind of quiet skill that would be lost on much of the bridge crew. Lucia appreciated it fully, and wished the results had been less troubling.

The bridge erupted as the new contacts populated the tactical display. There had been no expectation that the [i]Indomitus[/i] herself would be threatened so soon, yet the crew moved with disciplined urgency: orders acknowledged, systems spun up, firing solutions queued. Missiles and torpedoes were already inbound, but Lucia found that training steadied her hands. The Lance was holding the line out there. She would do no less here.

She shared the updated battlespace with the Lance’s forward-deployed units, save for the Phantom itself. It received a brief pulse instead, simply notifying the onboard computer that information was available should it be requested, lest a blast of communication betray the reconnaissance-oriented core’s location.

“Captain, the [i]Shrike[/i] and the strike craft appear to be covering a withdrawal across the theater.” Lucia eventually said, her eyes narrowing as she monitored the noisy data streaming across her display. “Attempting to intercept may place the [i]Percheron[/i], the [i]Venture[/i], or possibly Savior-1 at risk.”

Contacts moved in concert, ebbing and flowing as they responded to the Lance’s own actions and deployments. It rubbed her the wrong way: pirates weren’t typically this well coordinated, especially when a clean operation was violently interrupted. Strike craft running dark. A frigate lying in wait until the moment it mattered most. These all stunk of a cold professionalism that ragtag pirates didn’t usually display.

And then there was the determined effort to provide cover for the withdrawal from the [i]Venture[/i]. No, it was more than that. The pirate’s leader, whoever they were, were willing to risk some of their most valuable assets - a whole frigate and a wing of strike craft - simply in an effort to delay and distract.

[i]“Onyx-9 Actual to Indomitus. Main areas of engineering under control. Securing secondary areas now. Appears two factions among-”[/i]

The Colonel’s communication was briefly interrupted, but Lucia’s ears perked up at his update. Looking back over her display, she saw it too. While some of the pirates’ units were retreating in good order, others appeared to be panicking. There was a spike in hostile chatter between the units and cores that were panicking, but little in the way of communication between the well-ordered force and their less-professional brethren. More than that, now that she knew what to look for, Lucia saw the tell-tale indications of friendly fire occurring among the enemy.

[i]What the hell?[/i]

“Phantom, are you able to intercept any of the hostiles’ communication without risking your Core?” Lucia transmitted the request to Sharlin. She knew that what she was asking for was a tall-order. At the very least, it would run the risk of exposing the Phantom to the enemy right when the rest of the Lance was too engaged to assist.

Speaking of the rest of the Lance, Lucia’s gaze flicked to the Baron’s telemetry, and her jaw tightened. Reactor output was spiking. Structural tolerances were slipping. Medical diagnostics painted a worrying picture of a man pushing both machine and body beyond reason. She could only hope the battle broke soon, before the Baron did.
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It took Cassian a moment to steady himself after the report came in. Not one, but two real and immediate threats bearing down on the Indomitus. Torpedoes racing in from a frigate that had somehow gone undetected - a whole frigate, lurking unseen in the dark - and strike craft whose payloads could very well include throne-damned atomics.

He had assumed that the flagship placed him at a comfortable remove from the true danger of the engagement. Sitting on the bridge now, with threat vectors blooming across the tactical display, that assumption felt uncomfortably thin.

Cassian straightened, schooling his expression as his tutors had taught him. A Prince did not hesitate. A Prince did not betray uncertainty.

“Captain Ganishka,” he said, projecting calm he did not entirely feel, “remember that the [i]Percheron[/i] and the [i]Venture[/i] are our primary objectives.” How did his older siblings always make this appear oh-so-effortless? “The protection of Imperial citizens and their property must come first. There will be time enough to hunt these pirates down later. Justice has a long reach.”

And if focusing on defending the merchant fleet meant that the [i]Indomitus[/i] didn’t have to risk itself pushing forward into more direct contact with a fleeing enemy, all the better.