Neblae felt the surge of the Mallorri engines as it's main TSMD cannon fired into an Asuran battle-cruiser ahead of them. The TSMD beam sliced cleanly through the hull, causing it to instantly explode into a shower of fragments. Captain Garduna exalted,"THANK YOU, ANCESTORS! Oh, yeah! If all victories were so easy! Zyg'Donner, keep up with the fleet. We do not want to lose the Ma'Urishan shield! You, small goddess? Would a hit by the Great Enemy's main weapon be as bad as you claim?" Neblae opened her mouth to answer as the Scourge Battleship fired it's main cannon at the Ma'Urishan ship. Though there was no physical contact between the allied fleet ship, the impact shook them all. Chief Engineer Grond read off,"Ma'Urishan shields down FIFTY PERCENT! They've contracted their shield to hull contact. If the Great Enemy want to demonstrate how bad they are, now is the time!" Neblae saw as the Nautilus fired a salvo of missiles into the belly of an Asuran ship, breaking it into pieces. It then fired on the Scourge with it's main cannon. One of the Great Enemy ships hit it with one of it's weapons, causing it to spin away. She uttered a cry of pain and fear. Zyg'Donner said,"Nautilus still holding shield strength! It's coming back." The Scourge ship fired on the Great Enemy ships and they responded the same as if everyone else wasn't there. Captain Garduna pounded his chair arm and shouted,"They ignore us! Should we just PHONE this battle in? Brywyn? Are you still back there? Get below decks if you are still impaired by that immunization!" She shook her head,"No,sir! I can still fight. I'll man a remote turret. I can see again. Maybe the adrenaline is helping me." The one eyed woman grabbed the auxiliary panel and punched up firing protocols for one of the TSMD turrets. Neblae announced, grabbing the secondary sensor chair,"Your number three ship is drifting wide! It's going to draw fire!" Captain Garduna open a frequency to it as one of the Great Enemy ships shot it right on the nose of one of it's TSMD mandibles. It's shields dropped instantly as it started disintegrating from the front to the aft. It took only a moment before it all became dust. Garduna gasped,"Gods!" Neblae saw an alert on her screen. "Captain! I detect a huge object gating in from hyper-space over a hundred thousand klicks from her, sunward. I see the Naga Corvette! It's escorting it! It's...gone?" The forward view-screen turned white with exploding starships. When it cleared, only the scourge ship remained untouched, of enemy ships. The Asuran Battle-cruisers were rendered to scraps, and the Great Enemy ships were expanding balls of superheated dust. Captain Garduna stood up and asked,"WHAT IN THE FIERY PITS OF TANTULAS was that?" A golden ship of sleek line and power suddenly appeared before them, facing the Scourge ship. There was a pause, and the Scourge ship broke off and turned at high speed and gated out. The Ma'Urishan ship stopped dead. The other allied ships milled around in confusion. The golden ship turned towards the Nautilus. Neblae received information from the Measure over the Four Sisters network. She said,"Nautilus comm system off-line due to the Great Enemy hit. That ship is the Sururin FLAG-SHIP, the Golden Wind,Commanded by Haen H'gael, Battle-Admiral of the Sururin Grand tactical fleet!" She looked over at Captain Garduna who gasped,"It's the GOLDEN WIND? Holy of holies! I feel like a child with a switch-blade having just been caught by an armored car full of battle-troopers! The legends of that terror are many and honored! We...we should thank her." Neblae punched up the comm and said,"I am Neblae of the Four Sisters. On behalf of Balaam and the United System Commonwealth, I thank you for saving us." Suddenly there was another presence on the bridge. She said,"You're welcome." Neblae swallowed hard. --TO BE CONTINUED!--