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Orion opens broadsides

"It’s so beautiful," Sevro h leechCraft, sheering away metal and men, only to carry on and smash into the hulls and shields of the same men-of-war that launched the leechCraft

My newly appointed captain paces the coins a roll, cycling through her banks of railguns as they hurl death into the face of the Sovereign’s fleet Orion half turns to facethat path, doines to pound blackh the ree is silent but for the buzz of technical orders Missiles flash in concert beyond our hull We deploy our flak screens, as the ene ht surrounds us like a no-h we do not feel the reverberations here on the bridge Our equip does not fall from overhead compartments This ship is the pinnacle of seven hundred years of design

Sevro nudges orywell make it"

The arht here to athered lords and all their fleets out past the Rubicon Beacons tremble, and still it is not half the combined fleet But now that very armada quakes from the inside like a corpulent body as some alien chews its way out of the host

We make our escape from the armada in quick fashion

They do not pursue us past the Rubicon Beacons, where we are joined by our small fleet as well as those of the Cordovan, the Telemanuses, the Norvo I hope more will flock to our banners after today’s last surprise

I examine our wake--naval detritus Bodies of men and women float behind my vessel They came out of cracked and punctured ships Some are still alive but will soon freeze or suffocate More dead in e Sevro and I find our way to the engineering bay, where we have Oranges cut us out of our ar, a vast metal depot scattered with ships, equip the wounded and carting the carry

Weed prods several unarmed Golds with his razor Pebble and Harpy help the Yellows My eyes search frantically for her I find her under one of the battered stork’s wings, speaking with her father A long wound les her left arm I don’t ed to sheave the other off when entering the hangar

"We’ve put the bulk of the Sovereign’s fleet behind us," I tell Augustus

"Where is Quinn?" Sevro asks sharply "Did they get her to thedoes not answer Instead, she looks to the ra Quinn in his ar And lifeless Sevro does not move Does not speak His nostrils flare as a breath catches in his chest, a pitiful sob locked tight in the boy who never cries He goes numb Ghostlike And I reach for hih he was told the future once, and this reality is not as pro around, before turning and fleeing the hangar

Roque walks past me with Quinn His face is slack and tired He wants to say soue and just shakes his head at me He still does not knohy I attacked hiala And now this I’ve never seen him so broken