Fingers were crossed. Two ships were slowly ascending to attack altitude, getting closer to their targets. If our approach was detected by enemy sensors, we were doomed.
As the atmospheric pressure was getting lower, the hull and armor plates were making mechanical noises as they expanded, sometimes grinding against and sliding on each other, intensifying the eerie atmosphere on the otherwise silent bridge.
On Mei's orders, I was supposed to keep my eyes on the sensors screen. However, apart from the two huge motherships above us, we were only getting random noise from our own fleet's electronic warfare systems.
"Maintain altitude." Mei ordered the ship accompanying us. "Prepare for separation, ten kilometers starboard."
The ships levelled off, and on Mei's mark, separated from each other. In a few minutes, they were about 20 kilometers away.
This was the moment.
"Alright." Mei prepared to instruct the ship for the last time. "Ascend 15 kilometers, open up your missile bays and shoot the motherships on their center of mass. Go!"
The missile cruiser started moving upwards. I looked at Mei - she was looking rather calm, as usual. I was, on the other hand, experiencing her share of anxiety on top of mine.
Within a few minutes, the commanding officer of the other missile cruiser reported that they were in position. After Mei acknowledged, the ship opened up its missile silos.
Just then, the enemy detected them. Two motherships deployed drones rapidly to intercept the ship. But before the drones could reach it, the missile cruiser managed to fire a few missiles. Two of them hit and damaged one of the motherships. After that, they went into a steep dive back into the planet in order to stop the drones from pursuing.
"Mei!" I said. "It is our time."
If the other ship was detected, by the plan, we were supposed the finish the job.
"Not yet." Mei said. "Drones are still too close."
"Mei!" I shouted.
"Trust me, I know what I am doing!" she replied.
Then suddenly, Lodos started ascending. It rotated towards the sky and activated its main engines to full power. I was pressed against the back of my seat.
"Kagan, get ready to launch missiles!" Mei ordered.
"You are telling me this now!?"
I unfastened my seatbelts and barely managed to climb up to the offensive weapons console.
"Open missile doors!"
I removed the covers of the missile silos. At that point, we also were detected by the enemy. However, since the enemy drones were following the other missile cruiser, we had a nice attack window.
"Target both and fire!"
On Mei's order, I launched as many missiles as I could, in order to overwhelm their defensive systems. We finished off the one ship which was damaged beforehand, and significantly damaged the other one - enough to knock it out of battle. The drones, without their command center, were now useless.
"Mei, order The Fleet to ascend to low orbit." I said. "This is it, we are leaving."
The main portion of The Fleet then ascended to meet us in orbit of Neptune. On their way, the warships also destroyed the last remaining enemies.
"Good work, admiral." I congratulated Mei. "You saved The Fleet."
There was a round of applause through The Fleet. This was the first tactical victory of humanity in a long while, despite all the losses we suffered.
"Well, it was your idea, I simply executed it; I don't know how much of the praise I deserve." Mei said in return to my compliments.
It was a good moment to boost up everyone's morale, but we had to get back to work quickly.
"Anyway, for your next task..." I said. "Please keep working on decoding the recon data from earlier while I assess our losses. We defended ourselves this time, but we need to be on the attacking side the next time."
When all ships finally met on orbit, I asked for status reports from all vessel commanders. It turned out, most ships were in need of refueling after this lengthy operation. With their current propellant reserves, The Fleet could barely even leave Neptune if we wanted to. The bad thing was, even if the ships which had excess fuel shared their reserves, we still wouldn't be able to go far - at least not fast enough. Travelling to another major planet would take months if not years.
As if the universe itself responded to my prayers, we received a faint signal - from Neptune's uppermost layers of atmosphere, a bit ahead of us.
"Did one of our ships get stuck?" I asked. "What is that over there?"
Professor Yamamari turned Lodos' telescopes towards the signal source.
"No." Mei said, looking at the telescope camera view. "That's not a ship, it- it... It can't be! That's the Alliance's methane extraction station! It's still working!"
"Wow, that was some quick identification." I said. "I think I've heard about this station before, it sounds familiar..."
"Yes, I mentioned this station to you, quite some time ago." she said. "When I was in command of XS Lodos II, before the apocalypse, I was tasked with a peacekeeping mission near Neptune, but these guys kept making troublesome broadcasts."
"Oh, I remember it now." I said. She continued.
"It scoops up Neptune's atmosphere and refines it into spaceship fuel - hydrogen, helium, methane. You can refuel regular combustion systems, ion engines or nuclear engines there. It also refuels itself, to stay afloat for long periods in Neptune's upper atmosphere. Then sometimes it lifts itself up to low orbit for mainten-"
"Okay, I get it, you know a lot about this station." I said. "Can we get there and dock?"
Before Mei answered me, we got another faint signal from the station. But this one was strong enough to be resolved into a meaningful message. Partially.
'---IDENTIFICATION DATA MISSING---
Nept?ne G?se?us Prope??ant R?fi??ry
Com??nd?r, thank you f?r s??????
W? can provid? you with ??????? shoul? you dock ?????????
---PACKAGE DISRUPTED - END OF TRANSMISSION---'
"I am surprised that the crew is still running this station." I said.
"I don't think they have any means of leaving this station to begin with." Mei said.
"Maybe we could give them a lift once we refuel The Fleet." I said.
"Why don't we leave them here and have a continuous supply of fuel?" Mei asked.
"Because once the enemy attacks to capture Neptune, which is expected to be soon, we won't be able to confront them." I said. "It is better if we don't let the station fall into their hands."