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Eleven minutes later you were aboard the Servitude. You watched as five battery ships were left on the ground, detached from the power cables of the man o’war. You and the troops in your little file hurried to your respective castellation on the ship. Just as you passed by a starboard gallery full of gunners, someone pulled your arm.
“So glad to see you here!”
Lady Bocchi smiled fiercely at you. Her expression was far more coloured this time, unlike during your first meeting with her. She turned to yell at her crew how to calibrate the gun properly. Then she laughed.
The ship lurched.
“Looks like we just took off. In a hurry?” She stared at you again, then waved off the file of troops watching in amusement.
She began to lead you down the gallery. Lady Bocchi said:
“Coalition forces just penetrated into our airspace. Rosenberg’s brigade. They’re going to try and land at Vitrille and reinforce the fortress. Vitrille’s artilleries are still offline, the Coalition may control it but we’ve severed all the power to it, so next they will try to cover for their dropships to bring in energy. They have three cruisers against our Servitude. Do you think we will win?”
>[YES. Of course, you were going to win.]>[SARCASM. The odds are not in your favour, but still, you will fight.]Sith Bocchi brought you to the arterial gallery of the ship, near the bow. There were a hundred stormtroopers, all standing in two columns as they faced forward quietly. Some of them were fretful, others were wiping down their swords, strapping their shields to their strong arm, and reloading their blasters. They were all poised, low, like Achaeans manning the fatal rammer. The last of them put on his helmet, then happened to gaze in your direction.
Frozen wind howled into the gallery from the forward opening of the bow, until it closed. You and the Sith crouched in a little lane near the wall, at the head of a column of stormtroopers.
“We’re going to use the Servitude’s aegis, and her reinforced hull to ram the enemy ship and force them to fight in close quarters. We do not have enough guns nor missiles to match three loaded cruisers. Tell me, sergeant - do you know about ‘naumachia’? A long time ago, there were ancient warriors who used to flood their colosseum and kill each other using ships to please their Emperor.”
The Sith mused cruelly. “We can fight. We can win. Ten thousand star systems depend on us.”
Seeing your silence, she grunted bashfully.
“If there’s anything you’d like to ask, go ahead. You have been assigned to be my partner, much to my chagrin… But that is what my military household advised. We have a mission to go on, after we finish this fight first.”
>[ASK. You bring up a question regarding the nature of this mission and your exact purpose.]>[NOD. You shake your head and say only a few words, preferring to remain quiet.]>[Write-in. Ask any question you like, as the Sith said.] 