Her current, chosen position was actually more akin to a commodore’s slot than her own actual rank, but she could live with the demotion. Six ships, seven with the Enterprise, was a squadron and not a fleet, after all. She found herself rather enjoying the captain’s chair, however, and was fully intending to make the absolute most of it while it lasted.

“Message from Forge, ma’am,” Susan said. “We are cleared for launch.”

“By the numbers, people. Commander Michaels, take us out.”

“Aye ma’am,” the former fighter pilot said, sounding just a little grumpy as he closed his hands around the controls.

The Heroic Class had been adjusted from the frame up by human technology, with the intent of being the best possible combination of Priminae and Terran technologies as well as being as automated as possible. Even with volunteers from the Priminae Navy, Gracen hadn’t been able to scrape up enough crew to completely satisfy her, but she was unwilling to accept fewer ships if she could possibly manage it.

One of those technical refinements was the addition of the NICS (Neural Interface and Command System) to the control system. The Heroics could be piloted with computer-aided systems or even purely on manual, but with a NICS trained and compatible pilot, the maneuvering precision and response times could be increased significantly. She’d co-opted the former members of the Double A squadron, as well as a few other NICS-compatible individuals, as the Heroics primary pilots, whether they liked it or not.

Fueling and stabilization ties snapped loose from the ship as the slip let them go. The Odysseus was floating free at last.

“We’re free,” Steph said calmly. “Station signals all show green.”

“Take us out of the Forge, Commander. Dead slow.”

“Aye ma’am. Dead slow.”

The Odysseus shifted slightly, or more precisely her gravity fields did. Everyone gripped their seats and consoles firmly as the ship began to warp space. The twisting of space-time caused the ship to begin to “fall” back and out of the construction slip into the orbital space of the Priminae homeworld. Silence reigned on the bridge as the screens of the one-and-a-half-kilometer-long battleship showed the roiling plasma all around them.

The dark edge of the ship’s bridge was gone now, as the light of the star blasted in from every side. The Heroic Class bridge had open views to all sides, including sections above them. Only the floor didn’t show some view out into space.

“Clear of the slip, ma’am,” Steph said, smiling slightly as he began to feel a little more at home. He might be stuck piloting a pig of a starship, but the visibility around him was almost as good as his fighter.

“The Achilles is following,” Susan announced. “Bellerophon is powering her drives.”

“Very good,” Gracen responded. “Helm, bring us about. Keep dead slow.”

“Yes ma’am. You want it, you got it.”