"With all respect, Commander, I thought you were aware I had already agreed to rejoin the crew of the 'Friendly Fire'?"
       "Ah yes, Of course!"  Commander Madre-Merelle slapped his brow, melodramatically. "Sorry, I forgot, Oriene... its in dock just now, isn't it?"
      "It's Captain Madre-Deline, Sir, if you've forgotten."  She replied, curtly, "and yes, she's in for repairs and a refit."   
The Commander appeared to be smiling, which only succeeded in annoying Oriene even more.
      "Have you seen her since she docked?"
      "Of course not, the shipyards are off limits to non-essential personnel without authorisation, its number fourty eight on my list of reasons for resigning my commission."  she said, peevishly, irritated by his attempt at feigned innocence.
     "Well, lets see if we can rectify that... want a sneak peak?  It'll be worth it...."  
Oriene stared at her old friend.  She wasn't in the mood to humour him, but natural Erisian curiosity got the better of her in the end and she gave in with an exhausted sigh.   
      "Lets go then, Erral."  

      The Nosea Docks were situated in two massive craters, each several kilometres across and joined by tunnels to the main military complex., itself housed in a network of  domed craters, trenches and subterranean chambers.   The figure-eight of the crater rim was formed from nearly shear blocks of Feldspar, forced upwards and outwards from the planet's crust when the meteorites impacted mllions of years previously.  The relatively low gravity on Nosea meant that they had naturally piled nearly a kilometre high and had needed very little work by the Daryen Military to form into a nearly impenetrable barrier.  Extra security was maintained by keeping the entire area in the near-total vacuum of the planet's surface, a policy that had safety benefits as well, greatly reducing the risk of catastrophic fire or explosion.  The whole area was criscrossed with a veritable maze of cables, walkways, scaffolding & gantries. It was on one of these gantries that the vacsuit veiled figures of Commander Madre-Merelle and Captain Madre-Deline now stood.
      Oriene could not avoid gaping like a rock-hugging child seeing their very first starship.  The familiar shape of the vessel, the second ship she had ever come to love, had been practically erased.  Streamlined, and extended, the 'Friendly Fire' now sported a Ramscoop and two vast additional nacelles.   Commander Madre-Merelle smiled unguardedly as Oriene stared but quickly composed himself when she spotted his own smug expression, a scowl crossing her face.
      "Oriene, meet the all new Erisian, Lightning Class, Rapid-Assault Carrier,  'Friendly Fire.''  he introduced,  "400 Tons of titanium-Tungsten neutronic alloy, sporting bays for ten Typhoon-class Fighters, Particle-Accelerator barbelles and triple-linked laser turrets.  Unladen, after ditching the reserve-nacelles, it can achieve Jump-5 in as many minutes.  Even fully laden, it is easily capable of going from here to Mire in a single jump."    
Oriene reached out over the gantry, stroking the metal of the Hull with a gloved hand.
       "Its an amazing piece of work....beautiful.....  but, the expense..."  She wheeled on the commander, "Why?"
      "Part of a lot of exhausting meetings with the Daryen top brass.  I've been trying to persuade them of the best way to make effective use of  the Erisians for months.  Of course, finding an Erisian that High Command would trust enough to be put in charge of an arsenal such as this, that was the real challenge!"  He smiled his winning smile, unashamedly. 
"Now, let me tell you about Operation F.I.S.T...."

      Aurora winced, squinting as the corona of the primary star flared suddenly from behind the ruddish ellipse of Anselhome, before the ship's cockpit had time to darken in response.  When the crimson crescent of afterburn had faded, the dark floaters before her eyes coalesced, revealing  a single, ominous black shape in her field of vision.
"Look alive!  We have company!  2000K, Inclination 38°, eccentricity 0.039, Ascension 14°, Axis of..."

"Copy that, Aurora,  Closing on your position."

              "Eris alive!  Im reading two Main-Gauche Escorts and a Bandolier Class Carrier...."

                             "Carrier is launching fighters, Multiple Contacts - incoming! 

     Aurora assessed the situation and realised that their chances were slim at best.  There was no chance of escape, her luck had   run out.  Rage burned inside her, as she prepared to strike one last blow against her hated foe.
      "Stay calm people,   Helios? Startrigger?  You two target the Orbital Facility, see if you can draw the attention of those escorts.  The rest of you, I want a Close Delta Formation.   We're running the gauntlet, people." 

              "I have six radar contacts, coming in har...."
   
                         "Aurora, this is Mother, we are being targetted and are sustaining Heavy Fire..."

      "Dont play heroes, Captain!  drop the tanks and prepare for Jump, get the F.F. clear if you can!"
 
                "Affirmative...good luck Au...."

The irregular, blocky, red painted shape of the Sword-world Carrier filled Aurora's vision as she rushed by, lauching missiles in her tiny craft at no more than a couple of klicks from the hull.   She was blinded, the charged particles of the vessels sandcasters whiteing out the monitors, filling her ears with radio static and her radar with ghost images.  Then, just as quickly, she was clear, the sulphur-coloured surface of the planet the only thing now in her path.  Breathing hard, Aurora came about for a second run,  checked her instruments, showing no contact.  Her comms hummed.
 
                                     "Too many..."
 
            "Evasive manoeuvers...."
 
                                                           "Surefire!"

      "All units, this is Aurora, Report!"  she began, signalling across all frequencies,  "Status!"
There was a flare in her rear-monitor as the orbital facility spewed burning gasses, its hull integrity critically compromised.  Distracted, Aurora at first failed to notice a lone enemy fighter as it launched a barrage of plasma fire at her port side.  At the last minute, hitting her AG thrusters hard, she was carried in reverse, away from the fight and deeper into Anselhome's gravity well. 
"Repeat, this is Aurora!  All units report!  Is anyone still out there?"  She tried again as searing super-heated gas inscribed a deep groove in her wing, sending her into a spin.  She attempted to correct, while firing wildly at the pursuing vessel, but her ship's drive struggled against the power of the planet's own sheer mass.  Aurora bleakly ran through her options, realising as soon as she turned to correct her descent, she would most likely be destroyed.  She was vaguely wondering whether being blown up or burning up would hurt more, when her comms crackled into life once again.  
      "Aurora, this is Coriolis, I have your back, get clear!"
      "About time!  Performing evasive actions!"  Aurora cried with relief, bringing her ship about and regaining control.  Above her,  the small fighter was torn apart by a barrage of missile fire from Coriolis' own ship.
  Aurora let out a loud whoop of triumph.
      "Nice shooting, Coriolis!  Total Nova!"  There was a sudden crackle of static as another electromagnetic wave sent the instruments crazy.
      "Aurora, are you reading?"  the response came eventually, subdued, nearly drowned by interference.  "The Friendly Fire... its gone.  Direct hit while they powered for Jump...It disabled at least one of the Escorts, but I have multiple contacts closing in."
Aurora was silent for a moment, she bit her lip then flicked the comms.
      "I read you, Coriolis..."  She checked the navigational scans of the surface, observing a strong series of broad-spectrum signals somewhere below.  "There is still our primary target... Im gonna rush it with everything I've got left."
       "Affirmative, I'll try and cover you for as long as I can.  Contact in less than eighty seconds..."
       "Coriolis, Mel... I..."
       "Its OK Oriene, we all made the choice.  CCSS, remember ?"
      "Mel..."  she hesitated, rapidly keying coordinates as she spoke...  "Mel... I'm so glad I met you. I just want you to know, You've been like a, been more than, a sister to me."  She felt tears sting her eyes, blurring the screen as she began to key in the detonation sequence.  She thought she heard a smile through the static.
      "You know I love you too, Oriene Madre-Deline... Eris guide you to the end"
       "Eris guide you, Melinet Tenar...  see you on the other side.  Aurora out."

      She remembered crying futily at the scanner as the tiny dot that was Melinet winked out forever.  She remembered the pressure, the reddening of her vision as the blood forced its way into her skull and the G-forces threatened to crush her where she sat.   
Mostly, however, she recalled how completely unafraid she felt; that strange, hypnotic serenity which only grew as the barren, sulphurous surface of Anselhome rushed up to greet her.

Then there was nothing more.