They saw the orange flash of a muzzle before they heard the crack of the gun. It was followed by four others as one by one each of the gun towers fired.

On them.

Wherever the infiltration team was, they didn’t have control of those towers.

“Incoming!” The shout echoed across the deck as the crew scrambled, half to take aim at the incoming artillery, half to train their guns on the ships now roaring toward them.

Lir’s fleet was on the move. The towers were still in his control.

Caledonia had a choice to make: stay and fight knowing she was at a steep disadvantage, or run.

“Your orders, Captain?” Pisces asked. Her eyes were bright with alarm and furious determination.

Turning to Hime, Caledonia saw that same determination flashing in her dark eyes. Your crew is brave, Captain, she signed.

That was all Caledonia needed. She spun on her heel and hurried back to the bridge, calling, “Engines to full! Take us in, Nettle, and keep us in range of those guns.”

“Yes, Captain!”

The Luminous Wake surged forward, driving toward the incoming ships as up on the hill the gun towers fired again.

“We knew this was a possibility,” she said to her bridge crew. “Our job now is to trust our team. We need to give them time to seize the towers. In the meantime, I want us on Lir’s ships. Make it as difficult as possible for those gun towers to get a clean shot.”

With a single voice, the bridge crew responded, “Yes, Captain!”

The gun towers fired again, and Caledonia caught a round of vibrant explosions in her peripheral vision as the missiles landed among her fleet.

“Harwell,” she said, locking her eyes on the incoming ships. “Radio the Deep Cut and tell them to follow our lead.”

Together, the fifty-six ships of their combined fleet soared forward, guns blazing. The Luminous Wake bucked as a missile struck its nose, yet Caledonia held tight to her resolve. All around her fleet was suffering under the onslaught of a hundred ships and the constant battery from those towers.

“Deep Cut reports they’re down five ships!” Harwell shouted. An explosion shook the cabin and he paused to maintain his grip on his station. “We’ve lost three of ours!”

Eight ships down still left forty-eight. Forty-eight to Lir’s one hundred and seventy. In an instant, the air had filled with the bite of smoke. It clung to the back of Caledonia’s throat as her ships struggled to hold its own.