Fucking Jazz. Fucking mercs. Fucking incompetents!

On the bridge of the Black Hole Legion flagship, the battlecruiser Excellion, Lyrical Jacen seethed. Defenders always held an advantage in Parallax Gate, so despite his org’s efforts, they faced an upward battle against an equally prepared opponent from the beginning. The mercenaries that joined their call this day fared worse than average, with their losses mounting faster than his plan could account for. It didn’t take being the high fleet commander of BHL to see their incursion into S&B territory failed.

But Lyrical could accept being outplayed by Jazz Anders. He battled Jazz enough times to recognize the man as a worthy opponent. Lyrical could understand the mercenaries being subpar in skill. He accepted that risk when BHL leadership decided to hire them. But what Lyrical refused to tolerate was incompetence from his own ranks, and a single incompetent threatened to amplify a tactical loss into a death sentence for their dominion.

“Arches! What’s your status!?” On Lyrical’s primary screen, the battlecruiser Prominence floundered under a cloud of chaff. Its shields remained at full strength, but its guns had gone silent and its thrusters cold. Lyrical wanted to retreat, but if that meant leaving the Prominence in S&B hands, he had no choice but to fight on.

Arches reported.

“Sir!” An NPC jumped from the sensors console. “Prominence just launched sixteen torpedoes at us!”

“Gunner! Handle it!” Lyrical spun toward his information displays. “Arches! What the FUCK are you doing!?”

Arches shouted.

“Don’t fucking talk back at me. You need to shut the fuck up and let me clean up your fucking mess!” Lyrical waved the video feed off and confirmed the incoming torpedoes neutralized. After a deep breath, Lyrical issued his orders. “All ships! And I mean all ships! New primary is battlecruiser Prominence! Repeat! New primary is battlecruiser Prominence! And yes you all fucking heard that right, so don’t make me repeat it again!”

Within seconds, Lyrical’s fleet sprung into action. His generator ships disconnected. Plasma cannons, torpedoes, and rail guns from hundreds of ships set the battlecruiser’s shields alight. Unsupported, even a battlecruiser’s wouldn’t last two minutes against his full fleet. On his bridge, friendly fire warnings, ship status alarms, and Arches’ complaints created a cacophony. He silenced them all.

Then, chaff clouds blanketed the Prominence, obscuring it from his sensors. Status for five nearby medium ships flipped to a yellow ‘Unknown’ on his monitors. The fleet continued firing into the cloud, but their accuracy plummeted. Thanks to its hypercomm system, Prominence reported its generators overclocked by thirty percent and its shields stable at twelve percent.

A new alarm blared. The generator ship Succor reported its shields critical. Risks to his other capital ships mounted.

“FUCK!” Lyrical punched the nearest screen. “Arches! Get the Prominence out of here! We need to pull the fuck out!”

Arches groaned,

“Then blow that ship yourself! There’s no fucking way I’m giving it to S&B!”

“How many marine teams do you think I gave you!? Those aren’t NPCs you know!”

“There is no but! How the fuck could you let some guys with rifles turn an entire battlecruiser against us!? You better get my fucking ship in fucking order before I shove one of those fucking torpedoes up your fucking ass! AM I FUCKING CRYSTAL CLEAR!?”

On the screen, Arches cringed.

“Three minutes!” Lyrical announced. “If that ship isn’t fucking destroyed or traversing that fucking gate in three minutes, I’m gonna fling your fucking corpse past the next fucking star!”

Legius could only hope the other teams fared better than his. Of the seven other men his team started with, only Francis and Tama remained. The three took shelter in the battlecruiser’s mess hall with the dining area’s serving counter somehow shielding them from enemy rifles. The guards pelted their position from the room’s two entrances at either side and from behind several overturned tables. He estimated twelve guardsmen took positions inside the hall, while another eight harassed them from the doorways. Though the enemy could easily rush the three Wraiths and win, it seemed their leader took a methodical approach, leaving nothing to chance.

Resigned to defeat, Legius opened their comms channel. “Sinn! Match! I hope you guys are done, cause you’re gonna have to take the bridge!”

Match replied.

Sinn answered.

“We’re pinned in the mess hall! Two hundred meters-” Sparks and glass shards showered over them – security shot out the lights above their heads. “Two hundred meters ahead of our breaching point.”

Sinn replied.

“Don’t bother! We’re three against twenty already!”

“Boss!” Francis called out. “There’s an exit behind us! Should we move?”

Legius shifted under fire to check. The room behind the counter was the ship’s kitchen, and on the far wall that, a portal to what he assumed an open corridor. “We’re deader out there than we are here! Tama! Block that door off!”

“’Kay!”

Legius chuckled as the newbie scampered off. Though thankful for his tenacity, Legius had to credit beginner’s luck for Tama’s survival; the fighter pilot managed to position himself in places no practiced marine would ever consider. With their enemies also being experienced players, Tama’s erratic decisions ran afoul of common sense beyond anyone’s expectations.

The steady flow suppressing fire broke. Francis raised his rifle over the counter and fired toward a door. Legius rested his hand on his final frag grenade, questioning when to use it. He glanced at his teammate’s belt and counted another two – one flash and one frag. Against NPC guards, each might neutralize half a squad, but their player opponents tossed them back or jumped on them without hesitation.

Clangs and crashes resounded behind him. Legius checked again and found refrigerators and warming ovens knocked over and piled before rear exit, half their doors hanging open with a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables spilled onto the floor. He grinned. They’re not getting past that without explosives at least.

Two spheres dropped beside Francis; their enemies had thought the same as Legius did. On instinct, Legius reached for the closest one, but Francis picked up both and flung them away. The second burst as it left his hand, shredding his right arm and knocking him to the ground.

“Damn it!” Legius rushed to Francis’s side with his med pack in hand.

“Don’t bother,” Francis grimaced and pushed his remaining grenades and ammunition onto Legius. “I’ll take care of this. Keep fighting them off.”

Legius nodded and reloaded his rifle while Francis began treatment of his arm. Legius then shot several rounds at the guards’ positions before ducking back behind the counter.

The enemy responded in kind. Then another grenade bounced beside them.

Just as their opponents did, Francis jumped on the device, sacrificing himself to protect Legius.

“Fuck!” Lamenting the loss of his last veteran, Legius picked up both their remaining frag grenades and prepared to pull the first pin.

Before could Legius do so, Tama returned from the galley with his rifle missing and two large sacks of produce dragging behind. The image felt so out of place Legius couldn’t help but ask, “what the hell are you doing with those?”

“Well, when I knocked over the fridge, a potato rolled by and scared the hell out of me – I thought it was a grenade, you see,” Tama grinned. “Might work on them too.”

“Not like I have any better ideas,” Legius groaned. He tucked away the grenades and shot out the lights with his rifle. “Toss ‘em over, fast as you can.”

Tama tore open the bags and flung carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes over his shoulder one after another. Attacks from the enemy guards slowed for a moment, then laughter erupted from the other side.

It’s now or never. Legius armed the last two frag grenades, and with vegetables still flying, he threw them over the counter beyond two overturned tables. Legius savored the cries as the grenades popped behind overturned tables. That’s about half of ‘em. Maybe ten left.

In the darkness, countless shadows flew toward them.

“Get back!” Legius pointed to the kitchen, and the two Wraith’s scrambled as half a dozen armed munitions struck the ground behind them. With his ears ringing from the consecutive blasts, Legius pressed himself against the kitchen door frame, firing at any enemies in sight. The guards had dropped all semblance of caution – six men abandoned their cover and rushed their counter.

“What now!?” Tama yelled. With the guards ducked behind their previous cover, only seconds remained before the enemy forced their way in.

His instincts screamed retreat, but the rear exit was it still barricaded as he ordered. Legius listened as the footsteps approached, resolving to take down as many guards as possible. “Looks like we’re going down in a blaze of glory.”

Tama nodded. His fingers clamped down on his rifle’s grip as he raised it toward the door. To alert the other teams, Legius flipped on the comms. “Sorry guys, looks like my squad’s done f–”

Automatic gunfire echoed through the door to their right. Screams poured forth and three guards went down. A buggy whizzed by outside with the man on top cheering, “YEAH! YEEEAAAAAHHH!”

Gunfire from their enemies mess hall stopped. In the lull, Legius and Tama looked at each other, unsure what just happened.

“Was that… Sinn?” Tama asked.

Then, the enemy commander yelled out orders. Gear rustled and shoes clanked – the ship security repositioned themselves.

The vehicles’ whine crescendoed from their left side. The buggy stopped outside the door, and tracer rounds flew across Legius’s view into the BHL positions. The guards fired back with their rifles, their shots illuminating a shield protecting the cart. From behind the cart’s mounted machine gun, Sinn decimated the remaining guards, yelling, “TASTE YOUR OWN DAMN MEDICINE!”

Once the last enemy marine was eliminated, the buggy’s driver dismounted, revealing a familiar face. Rider gave Legius a cheerful salute. “Still alive boss?”

“Just barely,” Legius lowered his rifle and grinned. “Where’d the vehicle come from?”

“Courtesy of Black Hole security.” Sinn waved them over. “Hop on! We’re going for the bridge next!”

Legius and Tama joined Sinn, Rider, and Steel on the commandeered vehicle, and the group charged down the corridor. Another guard team attempted to stop the buggy, but their attacks bounced off its shields. Their opposition rolled pulse grenades their way, but Rider deftly avoided their blasts, preserving the buggy’s power while Legius hung on for dear life. Sinn mowed down the defenders with his machine gun, cheering all the way. Within a minute the Wraiths blasted their way into the ship’s command center. There, they faced a captain who appeared ready to cry.

With their shields, four rifles, and a machine gun, the bridge fell in seconds.

Sinn hopped off the buggy and pushed a dead NPC off the comms console. Following a few button presses, Aero’s face appeared on the bridge screen. Beaming, Sinn announced, “we have a new flagship!”

Following the capture of the battlecruiser, Black Hole Legion made a hasty retreat, signaling the end of the day’s battle. As with all their battles, the Wraiths convened in their digital lobby, where whoops and cheers rang throughout. Only a handful of members weren’t killed in the action, but that didn’t matter. The battlecruiser, which the Wraiths soon learned was named Prominence, belonged to the Wraiths now, and with it came a clear path forward.

Aero floated above the crowd, watching as sparks bobbed and spun in a symphony of color. For the first time in ages, the Temple Wraiths had their first true victory, and Aero savored the moment as best he could.

“Great job guys! Great job to all of you!” Sinn’s spark danced at the lobby’s center. “First off, congratulations to Jake and Eckos for being the first Temple Wraiths to get splashed by a space priest.”

“Fuck you, Sinn.” Jake’s spark bristled. “Fuck you all.”

“Like you could do any better,” Ecks retorted.

“And to everyone else, amazing job taking the battlecruiser!” Sinn’s spark popped up again. “Once we have her patched up, we’re taking back Specter!”

“Hey, can’t we do it, like, right now?” Stevie’s spark bobbed. “I know we have like four ships, but don’t we have enough anyway?”

Aero mulled it over. Their current fleet strength amounted to the battlecruiser, a destroyer, and two frigates. As the Crimson Suns hadn’t had time to construct defense stations, a surprise attack on Specter would pitch the Wraiths against a small fleet of frigates and fighters. Given that frigates could barely scratch a battlecruiser, there wasn’t any need for math.

“We have the firepower for it, but…” Aero paused.

“Come on Aero!” Mayto chimed in. “Everyone knows we can do it!”

“Don’t back out on us now!” Ecks added. “We still have enough people to fly the ships.”

Two dozen sparks crowded around Aero, pushing for the order to attack. Taking action would’ve been simple, and he too desired Specter’s reconquest. But I still need to study.

“Sorry guys, but I’m with Aero on this one.” To Aero’s relief, Sinn stepped in. “We have an exam to cram for.”