XVIIth Fleet - Orbit of Kyeltse

They were flying. "Paladin Adalbertus", along with the rest of the XVIIth Fleet, was leaving the low orbit of Kyeltse and heading into the dark, cold void on the outskirts of the star system. It was going to take them at least three hours, or so Kotanyi thought. Probably more, as he explained to his three Vessels. And so for a hundred and fifty minutes they would go blind, relying on the other ships' radars; just then they will plug Sister Lacrimosa in. She had the most experience of all three Vessels on the ship – and she'll be tasked with location the enemy fleet, if there was one. And there should've been a fleet – as an hour ago, two entrance point buoys were destroyed almost simultaneously, both by a couple of small ships – most probably, vanguards of bigger fleets. Half an hour would be a lot for a Vessel scanning almost a full sphere of space around her; at the very moment that the enemy's detected, another Vessel would take over and Lacrimosa would be unplugged. Such a change would probably give Kotanyi a huge headache, but at least it wouldn't risk frying his brain. The new Vessel was planned to be Alejandra. Speranza was meant to be in reserve – too prone to depletion, so Kotanyi told her. Also - too unreliable, too inexperienced and emotional, understood Speranza, though no one said it. And yet she was determined. She will do it for him. Georgius would be proud of her... if he was still alive. Honestly, no one thought of him as more than a casualty now; in fact, no one thought of him now. There was a battle ahead; a battle of fleets, something few have witnessed before, mostly veteran Order warriors. Also, something no one would want to take part in. Wars, or rather campaigns, in XXVth century were short, as their very cost was an immense burden on any country, be it attacker or defender. This campaign was ending – it was clear that neither Star Kingdom of Enmos nor the Eternal Revolution could muster any more forces for the battle; Kotanyi also voiced the opinion that the enemy wouldn't be able to stay in the system for longer than a few days. Halting their advance would mean that Kyeltse will stand – and also, that they would leave, probably for Lhublin, which would fall to the Revolution. And precisely because of that Kotanyi thought that Thaddaeus would try to defeat the enemy rather than aim for a stalemate. Such a leader would know that dealing a crushing blow to the Revolution's fleets would also make them retreat from Lhublin. -Sister, Alejandra, Speranza, is everything clear?- asked Kotanyi. They all answered "affirmative". He nodded. They were flying upwards – to the space. To the place where a destroyed buoy was anchored a mere hour ago.