Homsar Delgana and the Dogs of Sirius-11

The Master put his fleet between the now-captured station and the Patrol Fleet, hoping to keep them separated, but this did not happen. By the point his fleet finish redeployment, Admiral Campbell's thought-cloak dropped and revealed that both fleets were mixed together in point-blank proximity. Caught unawares, The Master and his Algolian crews had no time to prepare for the massive bombardment at such short range. This did not do much to the ships of the line, but many of the ships and boats on the wings were crippled or destroyed by that initial volley of fire. Following that up came the marines and their boarding boats, ramming into Algolian ships and storming them without mercy. Even The Master's flagship got boarded.

Just then the station opened fire with its batteries upon the Algolian fleet, adding to the confusion. It refrained from using its super-weapons, as the destruction was too indiscriminate for the Patrol's needs and objectives. The least-affected Algolians returned fire, giving the station--severely undermanned after Homsar and Zuzu cleaved their ways through its interior--pause and halting its own movement. Then, one by one, Algolian gunner crews began returning fire on the Patrol vessels amongst them. A close-quarters knife fight emerged, with ship combat mirroring the many marine actions within those ships.

The Algolian marines revealed themselves to be mutants, in order to match raw might with Patrol skill and gear, and this worked well enough that only the superior discipline of the Patrol marines finally won it for the Patrol. Once the morale of the mutant marines broke, the Patrol marines routed them and soon thereafter wrecked or seized the Algolian vessel in question. The marine maneuvering soon went to a new level as resistance shifted from ship to ship, having marines fighting in space as well as in the confines of ship bulkheads. Marines on both sides got caught in the ship-on-ship bombardment, instantly incinerated by the artillery blasts, and gun crews soon knew terror as a marine breached their section and dumped a grenade into their section.

The Master soon put down the Patrol boarding attempt on his flagship, only to realize that Admiral Campbell's own flagship bore down on it hurling volley after volley of artillery fire upon it at close range. The screens lit up white trying to hold, blinding the pilot and navigator as both sensors as well as their own eyes couldn't get past the interference. "Captain- hard to port, rotate axis to maintain advantage and fire for effect on their engines." The Master said, "Who's still able to move?"

Admiral Campbell saw The Master's ship move. "Match velocities and mirror their vectors, captain." he said, "Don't let them get our flank." He noticed that a portion of the Algolian fleet began to coalesce to a point on the edge of their messy brawl and sent a wordless warning to Homsar. Homsar, aboard the station, nodded and the station's main gun began to power up. The Algolians moved out, rushing the station while inert. The station fired its main gun, burning through the Algolians in one shot and burrowing into the massive brawl, but while the gun cooled down a second wave of Algolians rushed the station. Homsar and Admmiral Campbell sensed that somehow The Master had moved to a ship in that group.

The Master, knowing that his flagship was lost, reached out with his mind and possessed the captain of another vessel. With this he moved his banner, and his former flagship now ended up sunk under the fire of Campbell's ship. His new crew got surprised, but a glower from The Master meant that he soon had total control once more- and his private quarters could be replaced at another time. Seeing that he's got no chance in the current situation, The Master ran his remaining assets for the station. Using the other ships as a shield, he rushed for the station's surface, and one by one the station guns shot down his escorts. As his ship took fire, he reached out again with his mind and found within a suitable body for him to use; in an instant he possessed it, and moments later the station destroyed that ship.

This did not go unnoticed. "He's inside." Homsar said, "Thought screens on, no exceptions, so kill anyone found without their screen on and active."