Crimson Bulwark slamd into the first pirate frigate with brutal force, its reinforced prow and sheer mass doing exactly what they had been built to do.
The pirate ship folded into wreckage almost instantly, the impact tearing through its structure like it had never been ant to hold together in the first place, debris spraying out into the lane like shattered scrap thrown from a grinder, pieces spinning and tumbling as they lost all form and purpose.
Aurelian watched the impact, eyes steady as the fragnts drifted, then sighed quietly into the command channel.
"Rhoswen."
There was a beat of silence, just long enough to say she already knew what was coming.
"Yes, Commander?"
"You do rember you have main cannons, right?"
Another pause, slightly longer this ti, then a very honest reply that carried just a bit too much self-awareness.
"...Yes."
Astra actually looked amused now, though she kept her voice perfectly calm, her posture unchanged, as if she were simply observing a routine exercise rather than a ssy battlefield.
"She got excited," she said.
That was obvious.
The pirate ships were fleeing in different directions now, engines flaring unevenly as they tried to break line of sight, and if Rhoswen kept trying to crush them one by one, chasing the nearest target without thinking, one of them had a decent chance of slipping away into the asteroid lanes where tracking would beco far more difficult.
Aurelian kept his tone even as he let Rhoswen learn not just to smash into other ships, but to use its mounted guns.
"Do not tunnel on the nearest target," he said. "Assess the field first. Finish this properly."
Rhoswen’s answer ca back fast this ti, without hesitation.
"Understood."
To her credit, she corrected imdiately, without trying to justify or delay.
Crimson Bulwark kept charging after one of the destroyers, its montum still carrying forward, but this ti her other main batteries rotated with controlled precision toward the two pirate ships that had tried to break furthest away.
They were still within range, still too slow, and now they had made the mistake of giving her clean firing lines without realizing it.
Her main cannons fired.
Two bright streaks crossed the dark, cutting clean paths through the void, and both fleeing ships were hit hard enough that they broke apart before they could even try another evasive turn, their attempts at escape ending before they could even fully commit to it.
That left one.
The last pirate destroyer tried to dive deeper into the rock field, weaving between drifting chunks in a desperate attempt to break pursuit, but Rhoswen was already on it, closing the distance far too fast for a Tier II hull to do anything aningful.
A few seconds later, she ended that one the sa way she had ended the first.
With another violent ram.
Silence settled over the lane, heavy and imdiate, the kind that always followed sudden violence.
The attacked rchant ship was still there, drifting and damaged, its hull scarred and systems flickering, but alive.
Aurelian leaned back slightly in his chair and opened the command line again, his posture relaxing slightly now after confirming that the imdiate threat was gone.
"How do you think that went?"
Rhoswen sounded embarrassed now, which was probably a good sign; her earlier excitent had been replaced with sothing more grounded.
"I was too eager," she admitted. "I should have checked the whole field first instead of focusing on the first kill."
"That’s right," Aurelian said, and because she had corrected fast, he did not press harder or drag the mont out.
"This was your first battle. Mistakes are expected. What matters is whether you adjust while the fight is still happening."
Rhoswen’s voice steadied as she answered.
"I understand, Commander."
The rchant ship sent a contact request almost imdiately, and Aurelian accepted it.
The captain on the other side looked like a man who had just realized he was not dying today and had not fully caught up to it yet; his expression was caught sowhere between shock and relief.
He thanked Aurelian too much, too quickly, words coming out in a rush, and with the kind of raw relief that made it awkward to interrupt.
Aurelian eventually cut in and kept things simple.
"We’ll leave the rescue pods and pirate survivors to you," he said. "I’m not taking pirates onto my ships."
The captain agreed so quickly it was almost funny, nodding before Aurelian had even fully finished.
Considering the state of his ship and the look on his face, the pirates who survived the wrecks were probably not about to have a pleasant next few years.
Once the humanitarian side of it was out of his hands, Aurelian checked the battle yield, his focus shifting cleanly from people to numbers.
It was not impressive.
A handful of gray fragnts, a little white, and not much else.
That was expected.
Tier II pirate ships were not exactly rich prey, and the reward from the wrecks was worth more in raw salvage than in source extraction.
Since the rchant captain was clearly willing to handle disposal, Aurelian let him keep the hull scrap after taking the mission credit and the clean kill confirmations.
The more important part was experience.
Rhoswen had gained several levels from the fight, and while the pirates had not truly challenged her, they had at least forced her to make choices under pressure, decisions made in motion instead of in theory, which mattered more than a neat academy simulation ever could.
Aurelian looked over the updated status once, then gave a small nod.
"Not bad," he said. "Next ti, you think first and crash second."
There was a faint, embarrassed sound on the line, quieter this ti.
"Yes, Commander."
Astra spoke only after the connection quieted, her tone returning to its usual calm.
"She still likes impact too much."
Aurelian’s mouth twitched faintly.
"So did her talents," he said. "I just need her to learn that loving one thod doesn’t an using only one thod."
Black Crown and Crimson Bulwark resud their course after that, engines stabilizing as they moved, heading deeper toward the clue location near Duskrail’s mining network.
The pirate fight could be considered as a test run to see how Rhoswen fights and how powerful her ship is.
And although there were mistakes, she corrected herself, and it was her first battle, which was enough.
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