Runir wasn't happy with the mission, especially since she preferred working with safety first approach.
Andrew was pretty much the same, however unlike his fleet commander he understood that there were times you had to take the risk.
He also didn't like sending his fleet on a risky mission but if they succeeded, the reward would be great.
At worst, he would seriously weaken the Adurian fleet and wipe out one of the biggest invading fleets, which in it self would be a great win, however if they did everything right there was a chance to get their hands on a destroyer or two along with many smaller ships.
However if they made a mistake, then just like Runir said, they would most likely lose half of their fleet, while gaining nothing.
The preparations didn't take long, since the ships were already resupplied after their previous battle and all that was left to do, was to devise a plan.
This time Runir asked, Arien, Giarna, and Rodill, for advice, since this would be her first real assault on two fighting factions and they had more experience than she did.
The three commanders, happily shared their views and opinions on the matter, along with presenting plans for the operation, she could choose from.
It was not Runir's first time asking for advice, but this conversation made her aware that she wasn't alone and didn't have to do everything personally.
With all the plans laid out before her, she quickly managed to formulate the plan of action by borrowing parts of their plans and adding some of her own ideas into the mix.
The result, gained approval of the captains and more than that, unbeknownst to the fleet commander, she managed to gain their recognition as much more than a commander appointed by their lord.
This also cemented their confidence, that their lord knew how to place right people in right positions.
-Andrew, the fleet is ready, are there any additional information, about the enemy movements?
Runir contacted the command center before she departed.
-There are no changes at the moment.
He replied.
-Alright, then we need to go, if we wnat to arrive in the middle of their conflict.
She said.
A moment later the fleet went into FTL.
Andrew was nervous this time as this was their first military operation of this scale, and he was still unsure if he made the right decision by sending his fleet on this mission.
-You worry to much.
Theresa said, sensing his nervousness.
-How can I not worry about this whole thing?
He asked.
-I have no idea, but no matter how worried you are, there is exactly nothing you can do at the moment to help them.
She answered.
She was also worried since some of her sisters were captains in the fleet now.
This showed that Andrew trusted them enough to allow them to captain real war ships.
But that also meant that they would be taking more risks from now on, which was the last thing she wanted to see.
The Adurian fleet arrived at the system almost an hour before Andrew's fleet however before they arrived the main enemy fleet already went into FTL.
Andrew's best advantage over his enemies was the sensor range his station gad thanks to the relay and he was using it as much as he could.
In this case, it helped to monitor the enemy movements and calculate their approximate arrival time.
Runir's fleet jumped into the system, exactly at the moment they were planing for.
The Adurian fleet was now in the middle of battle with the invading fleet's main unit and loosing ship after ship to the enemy's three destroyers.
However the battle was far from one sided since the invasion fleet also lost almost a dozen ships so far.
Both fleets were so focused on the battle that they didn't even notice Runir's fleet, until the lock on alerts started blaring, but by that time it was already to late.
The first targets were the destroyers, and with their shields already weakened from the battle, it didn't take long before they started taking damage.
The Adurians thought that the reinforcements have arrived, when the incoming fleet started firing on the destroyers.
The invading fleet had the same idea and it started to fire on Runir's fleet, dividing its fire power in an attempt to save their destroyers, but it ended up in failure as the leading destroyer exploded, damaging the ships around it.
The two other destroyers, already damaged from Runir's attack went dark, loosing power.
At this moment the gunships launched their pods, delivering the battle droids to clear out the two warships.
Seeing the loss of their heaviest ships, the enemy fleet fired desperately, trying to take out Runir's fleet while lessening the pressure on Adurians.
However their fire was mostly intercepted by Runir's heavy frigates shields with some shots being absorbed by frigates and corvettes.
Adurians also used this chance to regroup and renew their attack.
With the destroyers down for the count and many of the enemy ships damaged, the battle started finally going their way.
However the invading fleet was not planing on going down without a fight.
Even with the losses they have sustained, they still had over fifty ships on the battle field and were doing their best to make both Adurians and Runir's fleets pay dearly for taking down their flag ship and the other two destroyers.
Their determination payed off as the Adurian fleet which was much more damaged, started loosing ships one after the other again.
Runir's fleet also took casualties in the battle, loosing two corvettes and 7 gunships to the enemy fire, while two heavy frigates lost their shields and took some damage, before they retreated to the back of the formation to recharge.
However no matter how determined the enemy was, they were doomed the moment they lost their heaviest ships.
With the two fleets attacking them and trading a blow for blow, they finally succumbed to the damage their fleet has sustained.
The invasion fleet jumped away with only eleven ships as the rest was to damaged or had their FTLD damaged during the battle.
The ships that remained covered the retreat of their comrades, shielding them from the incoming fire with their own hulls and paying their escape cost with their lives.
However the remaining ships only held out for as long as it took the last functional ships to escape after which they stopped firing and started broadcasting the surrender signal, hoping that the fleets that defeated them would accept and spare their lives.
-Hold fire.
Runir ordered, the moment she saw this.
Her fleet stopped firing the next moment, however the Adurian didn't seem to notice or they were just ignoring the surrender signal.
-Target the Adurian fleet, and open a channel to their commander.
She said.
-The channel is opened.
The droid reported a moment later.
-This is fleet commander Runir, I order you to immediately stop firing and leave this system.
She said in the most commanding tone she could.
-Fleet commander, I am thankful for your help during the battle, but you have no authority to order my fleet to do anything.
Not tom mention that I lost a lot of ships and good men today and I want to avenge them.
The Adurian commander said, not even introducing himself.
In the past She might have agreed with him, but after studying human military doctrines, she could not.
Not to mention tha the faster they wrapped this up, the faster she could start search and rescue operations.
-As you wish, open fire.
The moment these words left her mouth her whole fleet fired on the Adurian vessels, tearing already damaged ships apart.
In less than two minutes it was over as all the Adurian vessels were either dead in space, or sending surrender signals.
-Send boarding parties, to every ship and launch S&R drones.
Take everyone who is still alive prisoner, however if they resist, kill them.
Runir ordered.
At the end of the battle she had lost three corvettes, 9 gunships and one frigate.
Additionally, many of her ships were damaged to various degrees.
The worst part in this all was not the loss of the ships as they could be replaced, but the loss of the crews.
Only now did she fully understand why Andrew insisted on crewing all the ships with droids as much as he could.
Runir shuddered, at the thought, of how many casualties there would be if her fleet was fully crewed by organic crews.
As it stood she looked at the casualty list of less than fifty, since there were mostly three crew members on each ship, and they were not declared dead at the moment but missung in action, since there was still a chance to find at least some of them alive.
Andrew bought space armors for everyone hoping to increase their survivability, and ordered everyone to wear them whenever they went into battle.
-Open a chanel to the main station.
Runir ordered.
-Andrew, we have won, but I lost some ships and we have some damaged ones as well.
I could use some repair drones and droids along with some spare parts, to fix up my fleet.
She said.
-I'm sending a cargo ship your way, with the drones, droids and whatever spare parts we have.
Came the answer.
-Fix every ship you can, and return home.
He said, before ending communications, which angered her as hell.
In her eyes, it was like he didn't even care about the crews they had lost.
Thankfully, the casualty list started to shrink as soon as the search and rescue drones started looking for survivors.
Most of the people they found alive were wounded, some of them badly, and as soonas they recovered anyone with heavy injuries, she senrt them back to the main station immediately, using the gunships as medical transports.
In the end, they managed to find 28 people, that survived the destruction of their ships.
However there were also 14 corpses among the debries and no matter how they searched, there were still 7 people missing.
Runir continued the S&R for as long as there was even a sliver of hope to find anyone alive and even later, she was still determined to at least find the corpses to burry them with honors.
This was the first time the fleet under her command suffered so many casualties and it hit her hard as she got used to wining without loosing anyone.