Commander Prime Battle Station,
Tholian Dreadnought Guardian

      Xitrin focused on the range. If he ordered the gunboats to launch too early, they would be vulnerable to damage during the approach phase. If he waited too long, they might not be able to accelerate to attack speed in time to make a difference. But he had done this before. Finally, he judged the range was correct. He opened his intercom.
      "All fighters and gunboats, launch and take up drone defense positions!"

Hangar Bay, Seltorian ACS Wind of Ordained Retribution

      The hangar bay was a hive of activity. Oceans of the Moon could not help but be amazed at how smoothly everything was running. The combat patrol had already been beefed up from two fighters to four, and now the rest of the strike fighters were launching from one end of the hangar. It was the first time he had observed an all-out effort by the carrier, at least that he remembered. He smiled to himself. It had probably happened while he was a Ram, and his mind had been on other things at the time. He looked around again, marveling at how so many things could be going on at one time without an accident happening.
      Normally, the strike force was gone for several hours. The deck crew would use that time for training and safety evaluations while they reloaded the drone ready racks and the disruptor capacitor systems at their convenience.
      Now they were doing everything at battle speed. They knew that they would have returning fighters within moments, fighters that they would have to repair, rearm, refuel, and turn around as fast as possible. It was an amazing sight to see everyone doing their job, in exactly the right order, like cogs in a machine.
      Workers were just starting the process of reloading ready racks for the Z-YCs. The lieutenant was in charge of those Workers. Ensign Oceans of the Moon was supervising the charging of the heavy Zerhak's disruptor capacitors. The Workers under the ensign's control were efficiently filling the capacitors with power from the ship's engines, but it was a tedious and dangerous job. He had learned that job last week, much to the surprise of the Workers that were assigned to that position.
      Two deck crews were in the final stages of preparing two ordinary administrative shuttles as drone launch vehicles. Ensign Oceans of the Moon marveled at this Klingon idea, something they jokingly called a scatter-pack. Once the electronic systems on board the unmanned shuttle detected that programmed conditions for weapons-release had been met, the shuttle would come to a stop and all the drones attached to special racks on the outside of the shuttle would be launched, hopefully overloading the defenses of the enemy.
      Thinking of the Klingons made him think of the Klingon pilot leader, Ghunterian. Oceans of the Moon briefly wondered how he was doing. He had taken a liking to him, despite their obvious differences. The Klingon cared for the members of his squadron and had treated Oceans of the Moon with respect as befitted a brother officer. I hope he makes it through the battle, Oceans of the Moon thought. The craft he flies is so fragile, compared to a starship. I wonder if he finds it difficult to place his life in the care of a machine such as that.
      Abruptly, he turned back to work. Enough nonsense. As a Seltorian Sage, he had no time to waste on compassion. He had only a job to perform, and his crew was having a problem with the last capacitor. He moved to help.

Lead Fighter, Seltorian Fighter Squadron

      Karlos Ghunterian watched as the rest of his squadron popped out of the bowels of the Seltorian carrier. He had been on combat patrol with three other Z-YCs when the launch order had been issued. Now it seemed to take an interminable amount of time for the rest of his squadron to launch. Finally they all were out and began forming up on his wing. As they finished forming up, the last Zerhak popped out of the ACS and the Z-HBs formed up behind his squadron of fighters.
      The escort ships moved to take up position ahead of the carrier. Along with Ghunterian's Z-YCs, it was their job to disrupt any incoming fighter and gunboat strikes.
      He turned on his targeting systems and activated his drones. He checked to make sure that he was receiving a target acquisition feed from the ACS and verified that the computer had received from the ACS an electronic identification for each of the ships they were facing. As the computer began assigning numbers to the opposing force, he checked the range and was surprised to see how close the enemy task force was. They must have been charging at them as fast as tactical warp combat speeds would allow.
      They are as eager for battle as the Seltorians are. Let us hope this makes them vulnerable to mistakes.

Drone Launch Control, ACS Wind of Ordained Retribution

      The four Seltorians worked at a frenetic pace. Two of them were Sages, and each Sage was assisted by an Expert. They worked directly for the ship's weapons officer, and were stationed in the weapons compartment. They would be some of the busiest Seltorians in this battle, and spent their duty days in constant combat drills to hone their speed and accuracy. Their clicks and chirps filled the air of the compartment as they did their duty.
       It was their job to verify that there were adequate control channels available for control of each drone on each fighter or heavy fighter prior to the launch of that drone. They also verified that the target of each drone had been specified in the General Attack Plan. The plan could withstand minor variations, and indeed, such variations were expected, but they were expected to ensure that three fighters, for example did not target the same admin shuttle and ignore the opposing fighters.
      It had already been a busy shift for them, and it was about to get even busier. It would take their best efforts to coordinate the launches of the multitude of drones that the Wind's twelve fighters and six heavy fighters were carrying into the battle.
      It was a challenge they were looking forward to.

Gunboat Leader, Tholian Flotilla

      Firnx was tense. The flotilla had lost their commander in the raid against the picket. Because Firnx was an experienced commander, he had been promoted from his Fi-Con to command the flotilla. They had been ordered to keep themselves between Guardian and the enemy, the better to help defend it from the massive swarm of drones the Seltorians were sure to launch.
      This was not his idea of how a flotilla should be used in a battle. As attrition units, they should be in the forefront of the battle, taking the brunt of the enemy's firepower no matter the cost to them or their crew.
      He saw a squadron of Seltorian fighters deploying from the ACS. At any other time, he would have ordered an immediate attack, as they would be good targets for his hunters, but his orders were clear. For now he was to avoid direct combat and defend the DNS.
      He tried to relax in his web harness as he pushed the throttles forward, but he couldn't. He understood his orders. He would obey them, but he didn't have to like them.