The Silence Between the Stars

Caught between a Rock and a Hard place

"Captain, we are picking up more signals. A second battlegroup on the other side of the star. They haven't hailed us and are moving into position just out of gun range of the Combine battlegroup." The silent bridge echoed with the statement, the sensor operator sitting a handful of meters away from the captains seat looked up, the light green eyes searching for answer.
"Thank you petra.. lets take her around the far side of the moon, try our best to remain hidden if we can, its bad enough the Combine knows we are out here." The captain stood behind her seat, a hand gripping the back as she watched a multitude of monitors blink showing locations of ships and celestial objects, aswell as the cargo her small craft held in its bays. Although the Orion lacked meaningful weapons, Cath knew it could outrun almost anything the navy could send its way. "Any movement from the flee-.." the Captain was cut off as a alarm sounded off, a screen flashing red as it showed the two fleets moving towards each other, weapons spooling and ready for combat. As the bridge crew came to a stop to watch, the first salvos were fired. Long range shells and blasts of energy flew past one another before meeting their targets. Combine vessels burning in multicolored flares as energy blasts hit them, smaller ships simply breaking apart as their mass drivers made contact on the other end. Naval ships of the shield having holes punched through them as their shields shattered under the unrelenting force. Lasting only a few hours of constant fire until finally both fleetd broke apart, the limping remains making for the far edges of the system before blinking out of existence and heading home. Leaving only the Orion and a massive debris field in the system along with the rocks and moons orbiting a single star.
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"4 battle cruisers, 17 escort craft, and a dreadnaught. Most suffered by the Combine, with the battle cruisers and some escorts from the shield.. i can estimate maybe 46,000 dead unless they made it off ship." Tapping the screen as she brushed a lock of burning red hair out of her view, the long strands tied up in a ponytail, Petra set down her mobile link and turned to the captain. "I recommend we go sooner rather then later, im almost positive one of them will be back, and Ra is aswell. And besides, we have cargo to deliver." The soft tapping slowing down as Petra finished calculations on missed time and nodded, they were still on schedule. Turning to the captain and meeting the older woman's gray eyes.
"Yes, i suppose you are right. Poor souls if any are still out in that wreckage, begin preperations to jump, we need to make our payday."