Once through the warp portal, the crystal ships of the Lekon turned sharply to port, flanking the station on the left side. Hyperspace windows opened as the human fleet bypassed the use of the warp and used their own engines to reach their destination and attack the station from the right. Insect fighter squadrons split off from the primary swarm in order to screen the allied ships from the station's defensive fire.

The Naedar also didn't bother using the warp as their ships were faster. In flashes of light, their fleet appeared on the far side of the station. Having colonized planets long before most races even contemplated traveling in space, their engines and shields were the most powerful available, but the Naedar's peaceful nature meant their weapon systems were only recent additions and were of more contemporary design and capability.

The reflective black sphere belonging to Virkine's people trailed in the rear of the formation where the vessels in front would occupy the targeting sensors of the station. Since it was nearly invisible in the darkness of space, the ship hiding among numerous signatures on the station's tactical display made it impossible to detect as it raced straight in.

The initial fighters surrounding the insect ships had only been those unable to land inside the fully loaded cruisers. Once the assault began, the living vessels deployed streams of fighters in swarms so vast, it looked like a mist flowing out from the larger creatures.

The moment the fleet had been detected, the twin rings of defensive emplacements on the station began powering up. Hatch covers pulled back over missile batteries, and electric green energy crackled inside the plasma bolters. Laser turrets adjusted their positions for a better aim at the nearest enemy targets.

No warning was issued by the station, and no threats were delivered by the fleet. The combatants only waited until their opponents were in range before opening fire.

Missiles launched from the station on trails of gray smoke, but the sheer numbers of the incoming insect fighters limited their usefulness to next to nothing. The first few fighters were hit and destroyed in fiery explosions, but the following hundreds swarmed ahead without slowing. Green energy lanced outward from the plasma bolters to strike the invaders, but the overall effectiveness was negligible.

The four barrels of the laser cannons let loose rapid pulses of ruby light, destroying a multitude of the small fighters. The insect fleet continued forward with more pouring from their warp portal and replacing their lost units faster than they could be destroyed.

The insect fighters lacked the firepower to directly breach the energy shields of the station, but the overall numbers had a cumulative effect. As each fighter flew past, they fired their acid cannons and spine launchers one after another until the energy shield was overloaded by the repeated hits and collapsed all together.

With the insect fighters acting as a living shield, the other ships of the fleet had been able to move into weapon range unharmed. The fighters pulled away momentarily to clear the line of fire, and the counterattack by the fleet against the station was devastating.

The staggered sphere ships of the Naedar unleashed a hail of lasers and missiles which began tearing up sections of armored hull. Weapon emplacements on the rotating rings around the station were either reduced to smoldering scrap heaps of twisted and blackened metal or weightless clouds of debris floating in space.

The crystal ships of the Lekon lacked any visible weapon ports. Their weaponry channeled stored power through the glowing hull before unleashing it in shimmering bolts of energy. When the golden lightning struck the hull of the station, it ripped up armor plates and arced between weapon emplacements, destroying multiple defenses in a wide radius around each impact point.

The human vessels fired magnetic pulses to launch cannonball style spheres of metal at tremendous speed. The rounds punched clear through the upper hull of the station before erupting from the lower hull. It wasn't long until the internal supports had been so badly damaged, the outer ring of the station broke apart and began drifting away into space.

The insect fleet enveloped the floating debris, attacking it in passing to finish it off and make certain it didn't crash into any of the ships in their fleet. When the fighters broke formation again, not a trace remained of the fragments.

As the stations defenses were diminished, the black sphere belonging to Virkine's people streaked past the secondary defense ring and struck the rounded hull of the station itself. An instant before impact, the glossy black surface changed shape into a needle sharp point. When the ship struck the station, it ruptured the outer hull, but no loss of atmosphere in the station occurred because the ship immediately reshaped again, spreading out along the interior bulkheads and creating a seal around the hole.

The wall of the landing bay where the transport ship had been carried pulled back in a manner similar to a curtain, opening the way for the travelers to exit into the station.

Virkine went first, waving to the others and indicating they should follow.

"Why are we on this station?" Tolen asked as he followed her through the breach. "Shouldn't we just destroy the station and the creature?"

"No," Virkine denied. "What if Danvers, in a final act of retribution for our defiance, sends the creature somewhere to attack? We can't risk it. The creature must be secured directly. The demonstration area was this way."

Without waiting for further discussion, Virkine took off at a brisk pace toward the observation pit where they'd first seen the creature in action.