As Carter processed the sensation of the massive ship flying through the battlefield, he marveled at how lithe and responsive it was despite its enormous size. It almost felt like the ship was swimming through a sea of stars rather than propelling itself on massive engines. Of course, when a target is as massive as the Sybil, evasive maneuvers were more of a hope than an effective tactic, so they focused more on closing distance between their current target than avoiding damage. All the smaller ships shied away from the massive void predator as it loomed over them, but while they might be more maneuverable than the Sybil, it seemed like there wasn't a ship in the void able to outrun her.
There was a sudden intrusion in Carter's thoughts as John's voice popped into his mind. "Regardless of the other two ladies, I'm not exactly a 'her,' laddie!"
Carter could tell the pirate wasn't really offended. It was more like John was having a bit of fun at his expense. Still, Carter sent a silent apology the pirate's way, which seemed to assuage the wild man's concerns. How the madman could be taking the time to poke fun at a time like this boggled the mind. Carter wouldn't exactly call the sensation of feeling all the incoming firepower slamming into their shields painful, but it was pain adjacent. The good thing about the enemy being so spread out like they were was that it was impossible for them to focus their firepower on one spot to punch through the Sybil's considerable shields, but the downside was they couldn't really give any of their shields a chance to recover either.
A couple destroyers attempted to intercept the Sybil as it closed on yet another battleship. They traded blows as they passed by, but the Sybil wasn't stopping to fight them. They had a different objective. Both destroyers tucked in behind the Sybil, doing their best to keep up while pouring as much firepower into her rear shields as they could while the Sybil widened the gap between them.
For its part, the battleship, which was parallel to the approaching ghost ship, was doing as much damage with a sustained broadside as possible, futilely hoping to halt the massive ship's approach. Against any lesser ship, the damage of a full broadside from a battleship at this range would have meant obliteration, but the Sybil just focused more power through its front shields and plowed forward through the barrage, unleashing a massive salvo of its own as it passed overhead. But rather than stay and finish the target once they took down its shields, they simply took out its primary thrusters and continued barreling about the battlefield like some colossal raging bull.
Carter shook his head, wondering what the enemy commander thought of their strange strategy.
-
Elseph was at a loss as she continued analyzing Sybil's erratic behavior. It made no sense! Given the situation, it was all but impossible for the massive ship to finish off the entire second wave, but it didn't seem to be even attempting to finish any ships off at all! It just passed from one ship to the next, taking out shields and sometimes thrusters but otherwise leaving their fleet intact. It was unlike any strategy they'd employed before, and it almost had Eleph shaking her physical head in confusion. Was this some kind of bluff? Did they think they'd be able to escape if they took out enough of the fleet's engines? Doing the math, it was clear even the Sybil's massive shields would be down before they could finish the job, and then, even if they ran, it would be a simple matter for the remaining fleet to chase after them and finish the job.
With a mental sigh, Elseph decided she must be overthinking this. The Sybil likely figured out that they'd been outmaneuvered and were panicking. That's the only explanation all the evidence pointed to. Or maybe they weren't as advanced as the Boss thought. Maybe when finally confronted with an impossible situation, the entities running the ship could only flail about in an effort to buy themselves more time in the form of a few final minutes and seconds. Either way, as one somewhat competent human general once stated, "Never interrupt the enemy when they're making a mistake."
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Alen nervously watched the Sybil absorb an absurd amount of punishment. The Laughing Comet was doing its best to mitigate the incoming damage, taking out any missiles before they could impact the Sybil's shields, but there was precious little they could do about the cannons of almost a half dozen battleships wearing away at the Sybil's shields. They had to be nearing their limit. Reminding himself that the Sybil could time things far better than even his veteran crew could manage, Alen forced himself to sit back and wait for them to signal the next part of the plan.
Then, Alen had a horrible thought. What if they'd lost communication somehow? Should he make a move? It certainly seemed like they were pushing their luck as is. While the Sybil was a massive ship and could take a decent amount of punishment once its shields were gone, that many battleships would make short work of even its mass.
Alen was just about to put in a call to Sybil to make sure everything was alright when he finally received a transmission from Sybil. It was Carter, who was thankfully grinning in his usual overconfident way. "Alright, it's time. Good luck!"
Alen nodded. "You too!"
This was the most dangerous part for him and his crew, but everyone on board knew the risk they were about to take. With all the enemy destroyers unable to counter his own since their shorter-ranged cannons wouldn't be able to effectively track the smaller and more maneuverable Laughing Comet now that their engines were neutralized, Alen finally directed his crew to take them out from the protective proximity of the Sybil and speed off toward the nearest intact battleship.
As they approached the ship in question, the battleship redirected its fire from the Sybil to the Laughing Comet. It was now a race against time. Would the overhauled shields the Sybil had given them endure the incoming barrage long enough for them to get into the relative blind spot of the battleship, where they could then start taking it apart piecemeal, or would they be atomized first?
-
Elseph watched in disbelief as the enemy compounded ineffective insanity with more of the same. If by some miracle that destroyer would weather her battleship's incoming barrage and get positioned behind its rear engines, it could typically prove a threat to her single ship, hence why fleets often consisted of a combination of heavy ships for firepower and smaller ships to act as escorts. However, given their numeric superiority, even if the little destroyer managed to get into such a position, it would be a simple matter for some of the other ships in the fleet to deal with their presence long before they could do any real damage... Still, better safe than sorry.
Turning to her second in command, Elseph was about to order the next nearest battleship to position itself in such a way as to protect her flank, but that was when the human in charge of scanning the system spoke up. "We've got an incoming. Doesn't look too big, though. Probably another destroyer."
Another destroyer? When had they expanded their fleet yet again? It hardly mattered. Such a small shift could hardly turn the tide of battle... Still, once again, she decided to err on the side of caution. Knowing the Sybil, it had some sort of weird modification. "Have two battleships turn to face the incoming threat. I want it wiped out before it can get within range to do any damage."
This way, they could quickly deal with the new threat and still have time to deal with the other incoming destroyer before it could wreak much havoc.
Still, under her calm and controlled exterior, Elseph could feel a spike in Luise's apprehension. Something about this was bothering her. Had Elseph missed some crucial development? She continued to rapidly analyze and reanalyze everything as the new ship's arrival timer counted down...
