Thanks for the review, I appreciate it very much. I was beginning to fear noone would ever look at this thing.

Anyway, on with the story. I feel it pointless to constantly put on a disclaimer when people can just look at the first chapter they see, so I won't do it.

5 of the Nietzschean craft were vaporized by Andromeda's missiles. Several more were crippled, dead in space, drifting closer and closer to the large ship's hull… That is, until the PDLs kicked in and blasted the crippled fighters as well.

"All battle stations are manned and ready," Andromeda announced through ship-wide. On Command Deck, she spoke directly to Trance, "I'm detecting a launch from the surface of Ne'Holland Prime. It's the Eureka Maru. They're hailing us and the rest of the fleet defending the system."

"On-screen, Andromeda," Trance nodded.

The visual was centered on Rommie as she spoke. "Attention all High Guard and Home Guard ships! Move away from the planets! Take this battle as far away from the planets as possible, as the ODSs are not prepared. Do not allow a single Collector or Nietzschean past."

Then Dylan continued the message, and the screen shifted toward him. "Prep your Slipfighter squadrons immediately. Have them engage the Nietzschean Fighters. The Heavy Cruisers and the Wrath of Achilles should concentrate fire on the Nietzschean Destroyers and the Collector Heavy Cruisers. Frigates and Light Cruisers, attack your Collector counterparts!" The message ended.

"Slipfighter pilots, prep for launch!" Andromeda announced ship-wide. "Repeat: pilots, prep for launch immediately!"

Most of the other ships had already launched their Slipfighters, and relentless fights began between the Nietzschean and Commonwealth pilots.

The 5 Heavy Cruisers – inclusive of Andromeda and the 4 Ne'Hollander ships of the same class – were ridiculously outnumbered by the Collectors' own 30 Heavy Cruisers. However, the one advantage for the defending fleet was the presence of the Wrath of Achilles – a lethal class of ship that was designed practically with the sole purpose of destroying other ships. To boot, the Wrath was difficult to detect on sensors.

"Launching Slipfighters," Andromeda announced. "Firing missile tubes 1-40 at the Collector fleet."

Simultaneously, an entire salvo of missiles shot out from the Andromeda's hull alongside the streams of the Slipfighter squadrons. As the fighters and the missiles parted ways, each towards their own targets, one or two careless Slipfighter pilots veered off straight into the path of the missiles, exploding in blazes of unfortunate friendly fire.

One of the Collectors' Heavy Cruisers was severely damaged, and it managed only to send out a few Slipfighters of their own before blowing apart. The other Collector capital ships retaliated with a relentless barrage of missiles, some of which struck the Andromeda and her fellow ships, others which were sent streaking toward the planet.

"Andromeda, use PDLs and defensive missiles to try and intercept those planetbound missiles!" Trance commanded, just a moment before a small tone signified the return of the Maru to its hangar. Missiles that got close enough to the Andromeda were stopped by the PDLs. Missiles that were out of PDL range were shot down by defensive missiles. The other ships followed suit and tried to intercept the projectiles without opening gaps in the battle lines.

"30 of the missiles made it past the defense line," Andromeda reported, "and are heading toward the surface of Ne'Holland Prime. More specifically, the targets are the capital and the major cities of the planet. Functioning ODSs are initiating, but there is little chance they will be able to prevent the projectiles from impacting."

"Oh, that is just terrific! No matter, not all we can do is concentrate on the enemy fleet," Trance sighed, "Load and prep-reload all offensive missile tubes."

Orbiting the capital world, the functioning defense satellites charged their Point-Defense Lasers and their defensive missiles. As the Collectors' warheads streaked closer and closer, the ODSs began to barrage the wave. 12 of the missiles were shot down, but the rest managed to make it into the atmosphere. The sight of the oncoming projectiles caused people to panic. People in the air-taxis of the capital city caused traffic jams in the air lanes and accidents in their scramble to leave the industrial and administrative centers. It was too late, however – the first missile struck an embassy building, and was followed by 7 more, each hitting in a different part of the metropolitan area. The suburbs and the Royal Palace were not struck, but downtown went up in smoke and flames. King Erik watched the attack from a monitor in the bunker under his palace, sorrow on his face and tears in his eyes. A similar scene was repeated in 5 more metropolis of the planet. The enemy bombardment left not just smoldering ruins of buildings, but also dug deep craters into the surface.

In space, the battle was going a little better for the defending fleet. Though the Slipfighters suffered 60 casualties, the Nietzschean Fighters were either destroyed, crippled, or forced to flee the system. Many of the Nietzschean Destroyers were likewise blasted to shreds. The Collectors were faring better than the Nietzscheans, however. Of their 30 original Heavy Cruisers, only 6 were lost. Only half of the Light Cruiser and Frigate fleets were destroyed. On the defenders' side, the Royal Demos and Honor of Villemina were almost completely crippled, the Villemina already evacuating its crew because it's Slipstream Core ruptured and was threatening to explode within moments. 78 of the Light Cruisers and Frigates that the High Guard and Home Guard fleets had at the beginning of the battle were by now clumps of parts and components.

"Ryan!" Dylan hailed the Wrath of Achilles from Command. "Unload all your offensive missile tubes on the Collector Heavy Cruisers! If we destroy them, they may have to back off!"

"Acknowledged, sir," Ryan the android and AI of the Wrath responded. No sooner than the comm. was terminated that the Wrath unloaded barrage after barrage of its offensive ship-to-ship missiles. The Collector fleet lit up like an Ancient Earth Christmas Tree. Unfortunately, the huge amount of missiles Ryan shot allowed the Collectors to pinpoint much easier where he was. The remaining 12 Heavy Cruisers unloaded salvo after salvo of their own ordnance on the spot where the huge barrage originated.

"They're gonna hit him!" Harper stared at the tactical screen, watching dozens of pellets representing missiles speed toward the blip which was the Wrath of Achilles.

"No, they won't," Rommie countered. "The Honor of Villemina is limping along to intercept." In fact the Villemina was indeed drifting into the path of the missiles, making it just in front of the Wrath so that the targeting mechanisms of the projectiles would confuse her for the real target. The missiles impacted on the hull, which was already beginning to implode. Rommie grimaced as her fellow Glorious Heritage Heavy Cruiser that was once the Honor of Villemina shattered, its outlying arms breaking away from the central hull, battle blades being hurtled by the force of the explosions in all directions.

"Ryan, get out of there! You're gonna get hit!" Rommie screamed out loud, relaying the message through the AI comm. connection they had and not bothering to go on-screen for the whole crew to see and hear him.

"We're trying, but I don't think we can!" Ryan responded to Rommie through the AI link.

As the Villemina shattered even further and finally exploded in a final huge ball of light, her arms and blades were shot at the Collector fleet, impaling and destroying several of their Light Cruisers and Frigates, but also at the Wrath.

"Ryan, come in!" Dylan hailed him. No answer. "Please report your status. Come in!"

Then, to the relief of the crew, Ryan responded, the reply fuzzy and staticky. "I'm OK. It's --- little --- navigational damage. It's no---ing serious. Just won't --- able --- Slipstream out --- here --- time soon."

"Well, at least you're OK," Dylan replied, "but you need some repairs. Fall back to orbit of the capital. We'll handle the rest of the Collectors."

"Captain," Andromeda replaced Ryan's face on the central screen, "what remains of the Nietzschean fleet is exiting the system. Two dozen of the Collector Light Cruisers and Frigates are also leaving."

"They're giving up so easily?" Harper muttered.

"I don't think so. They still have the upper hand," Rhade said. "With the Wrath of Achilles and the Royal Demos both knocked out of commission, we're outnumbered. They have a full dozen Heavy Cruisers left; we're only three."

"Alright, Andromeda signal our fleet," Dylan commanded, and a tone indicated that the fleet would get whatever message he was about to send. "Everyone except the Slipfighters, concentrate your fire on the Heavy Cruisers. The Slipfighters should pelt the smaller Collector ships that remain in the system. Overwhelm them, use swarming tactics—" Dylan stopped himself, grimacing as the concept is used by the vicious Magog, "OK, bad term, but you know what I mean."

The entire remaining fleet moved toward the Collector Heavy Cruisers and unleashed all hell and fury on the invaders. Unfortunately, the re-alignment of the fleet opened a few gaps in the line of defense. Though still pelted by PDL fire, a dozen Frigates made it through the gaps and headed straight for the planets.

"We've got to go after them!" Trance said, in a near-panicky voice.

"At this point, it's crunch time, Trance," Dylan said firmly. "If we defeat the Heavy Cruisers, the rest of the Collectors will have to flee. We can't turn back now."

"But you don't understand!"

Suddenly a klaxon rang loudly in Command. Andromeda appeared on the central screen. "Captain, I'm detecting the launch of 10 atomic warheads – 2 for each planet in the system." At the exact same moment, 4 of the Collectors' capital ships exploded, leaving 5 still fighting. "The Ne'Hollander ODSs are not equipped to intercept the warheads and have little chance of doing it successfully."

"Great!" Dylan groaned. "How long until the warheads reach the surface of each planet?"

"Five minutes."

"That's not enough time to get all the people to safety!" Rhade said.

"I know, but we have to at least warn them. Andromeda, send this message to all the Ne'Holland planets: Get as many people as possible into bunkers and out of the cities. The Collectors have launched 10 atomic warheads, 2 per planet. Repeat, get out of the cities and into the bunkers or the countryside! Hunt, out."

"The Frigates that launched the warheads have exploded," Rommie reported. "They self-destructed. The planets' gravitational forces will either pull the debris down and bombard the surface even further, or spread the debris out into an orbit, making it dangerous to get off-world and on-world."

More Collector ships were destroyed by the combined fire of the fleet.

"The Collector ships are opening Slipstream portals," Holo-Rommie appeared, "and the warheads will impact in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" At the same moment as the last of the Collector ships jumped into the portals, 10 bright flashes blazed on the planets. "The Collectors are gone, and the warheads have detonated. Surprisingly, they did not target the capital city. Why?"

"Well, it's lucky that they didn't," Beka said, "but from what we've seen, it seems like it got quite a pounding as it is." She looked at the central screen, which showed the Slipfighter squadrons returning to their ships. "I should've been out there, commanding those squadrons. If I had only stayed on the Andromeda, I would've been with them."

"Don't feel guilty," Dylan walked over to Beka, "you're not to blame for any of this. And you couldn't have known that they would attack early, or that they would attack simultaneously with the Nietzscheans."

"But why," Rhade wondered, "did they not incinerate the capital city? It's one of the centers of industry and commerce – it could've crippled the Ne'Hollanders, and our Commonwealth, for months, if not years."

"Maybe there is something about the capital that King Erik is not telling us," Trance speculated. "Maybe they have something valuable, and the Collectors did not want it destroyed."

"I think it's time we have a little talk with Erik," Dylan said. "But first, tell me, Andromeda, how many of us are still left?"

"31 of the overall Home Guard and 49 of the overall High Guard fleets have survived the battle," Andromeda reported. "The Royal Demos and Wrath of Achilles are both out of commission, and will need repairs. We may have to tow them to the shipyard."

"I understand. Now, Trance, you're going to go down to the planet with me, in a Slipfighter," Dylan said as another signal notified of the return of the surviving Slipfighters. 20 of the 36 fighters made it. "The rest of you, stay here, in case the Collectors or Nietzscheans return. And Rommie?" She turned to face him. "Send a courier to Castalia. That's where Tri-Lorn is holding training wargames for the Castalian fleet."

On Ne'Holland Prime, King Erik looked at his flexi which showed the extent of the damage done to the capital city. The Royal Palace remained unscathed. He breathed relief. It wasn't damaged, then. I hoped that they would be smart enough to avoid hitting the palace.

"Trance," Dylan began as they strapped into the Slipfighter, "do you know why the Palace was specifically spared?"

"I don't, sorry," she lied. In fact, she knew exactly what it was. But she knew that if Dylan went down there and knew exactly what Erik was hiding, he'd start making demands right off the bat, and Erik's reaction could damage relations between Ne'Holland and Dylan's Commonwealth.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: As you can see, I can't write a good battle scene if my life depended on it, so I apologize for it, but at least I tried, that's all I can say.

PREVIEW: What is King Erik hiding? How much does Trance really know about what's going on? Will the Collectors and Nietzscheans regroup in time to wipe out the tattered remnants of the Ne'Holland fleet? And why was Indra Xicol, renowned intergalactic superspy, mistaken about the size of the fleet attacking Ne'Holland?...