5. The Fight at the Red StarThe surface of Ansider was falling away behind them, the lander lurching as it passed through multiple atmospheric layers, when the first alerts about ships appearing on the periphery of the system reached Selene.
Dread trickled through her as she watched more and more of them light up. A coordinated halo of ships were appearing all around the red star, clearly attempting to form a full-sphere blockade of Ansider. She knew what vessels they would be even as identification tags winked into existence on the three-dimensional visualization in her head. A mesh of Cathedral ships, then a rash of smaller traces, faster moving: Void Walker attack vessels deploying to fill the gaps between the larger ships.
She could see from the alarmed look on Hessia's face that the
