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the
giant ship.
    Riona parked her skeet haphazardly on the deck,
getting it out of the way of the others but leaving the crew to reposition it
where it needed to go as she jumped out of the cockpit and ran towards the
exit, headed for the nearest lift to get her up to the bridge.
    By the time she got there the TF had fully merged back
into the Adamant and the ship had
moved back further up into orbit, heading right into the heart of the lizard
attack group while the Warship -class
jumpships held perimeter positions while firing into the hoard of ships to keep
out of the worst of it. The Adamant took the brunt of the attacks and tore through the enemy fleet by the dozens,
but still there were more lizard ships arriving in groups and adding to the
onslaught, making final fleet strengths impossible to determine.
    Riona got over to the command nexus and linked in, reorganizing the battle slightly from what the Admiral
had them running and chewed through as many lizard ships as possible while the
Hycre fleet really did most of the damage. Eventually the Adamant ’s shields went down in several places, with the huge ship
beginning to take hull damage but she didn’t pull it out, knowing the beast
could stand up to the slugging and reaping the rewards from it. The lizards
took to the dropped shields like a swarm of bugs to a light, which allowed the
Hycre to literally rip them to shreds.
    Rather than retreating the lizards fought to the last
ship, with several trying to ram the Adamant and one succeeding in slipping by the specialized shield emitters designed to
‘cushion’ the blow. That ship imbedded itself far enough that the Adamant had to stick around in orbit for
another two days cutting it loose before they were finally able to withdrawal
and make the jump back to Star Force territory.
    Eventually it was decided that the ship needed to be
repaired rather than being sent into another campaign immediately, which it
could have been given how big it was and how it could take several more such
hits and still remain mostly operational. Star Force didn’t like operating that
way when they could avoid it, so the Adamant returned to Earth where it could fit into a sufficiently-sized slip and undergo
repairs…along with a few new upgrades.
    Riona went with it, hopping onto a dropship in orbit
and riding it down to Antarctica where she eventually found her way into the
V’kit’no’sat pyramid.
      “Knock, knock,”
she said softly coming into the open doorway of Paul’s quarters as he was
riffling through a drawer to find a particular headband he wanted before
heading right back out to the sanctum.
    He looked up at the sound and smiled, not having felt
her approach. “Hey.”
    “Hey to you too…you got a minute?”
    “I’m kind of in the middle of something, but if you
feel like walking and talking you can come with.”
    “Works for me,” she said as he came back out and shut
the door, walking at a brisk pace and her able to sense a bit of an adrenaline
rush in him.
    “What’s up?” he asked.
    “You first,” she said, glancing at the headband…which
with Paul’s short hair didn’t seem necessary.
    “Prototype sensor. Headbands
aren’t my thing and I forgot to put it on this morning…then I got a whiff of
instability and rushed back here. Might just be my imagination but I think I’ve
got another ascension coming on.”
    “And that would be how many now?”
    “Uh, not counting battlemeld this will be the 5th if
it pans out.”
    “And with?”
    “17th. Haven’t found any new
ones recently, and neither have the twins. Whatever they are they’re buried
deep…or we’re just going about it the wrong way.”
    “You have to start counting those.”
    “Can’t use them alone, so they’re a
different category.”
    “If you say so. My count just
escalated to two, which is why I’m here.”
    Paul looked over at her curious as they walked. “What
did you get?”
    “Bioshield.”
    That stopped him in the