Twilight Of Peace

[Nightfall]

... at the time of the Hyperion's skirmish with the nomads...
ONBOARD THE AMPOLIROS (Osiris class), Ghost Ship Battlegroup (Secret mission), Unknown System (the one from Omicron Gamma)
... on the far edge of Hyperion's sensor range, cloaked...

Commander Nathan Hawke, the second in command after Vice Admiral Fokke, in command of the vessel and mission in Nightfall's absence, also his apprentice, watched the nomad fleet being decimated on the ship's viewports...
"Lt. Wolfe, alert the AW fleet of the presence of this fleet and request orders! Put all stations on Yellow Alert!"
"Yellow Alert! Yellow Alert!" a siren started beeping in short intervals, "This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!" a voice mixed in with the siren...
"Helm, follow them on safe distance and keep us out of their sensors, seems they can see the cloaked ships, like us!"
"Hangar, dispatch fighter wings!"
"Cruisers and gunboats, battle formation!"
"I repeat, KEEP OUT of their sensor range" confirmations and status reports started filling the air on the Ampoliros bridge... "Communication silence except with the AW Command and emergencies! Stay cloaked and DO NOT engage anything!"
Cmdr. Nathan Hawke sat in the captain's seat and begun clearing his mind as his Master Fokke thought him:
"Clear your mind. Calm your heart. Don't question anything and the answers will come by themselves... You're the reflection of moonlight on the river. The river represents your thoughts. The river flows but the water doesn't touch the moonlight. The moonlight doesn't touch the water... The water flows. Your thoughts flow."

***

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If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God? - from 'Nightfall' by I. Asimov
The Outcasts consider Siniestre Nube a sacred place for several reasons. Early explorers discovered a jumphole within the depths of the cloud that leads to a strange world of ringed stars and strange craft. All ships in the burrial ground are placed facing that hole to honor the Alien Spirits. - An Outcast rumor