The skies of Metastrato Prime were ablaze. It was impossible to tell just how fierce the fighting was until one was actually in the thick of it. Until one saw the turbolaser blasts streaking from ship to ship, terajoules of coherent light powerful enough to turn a small town to slag, either dissipating against shields, or tearing into hull and deck and person. And the starfighters, too; ducking and wheeling about each other, avoiding blasts as wide around as they were, stitching each other’s flight paths with cannonfire, hoping against hope that they’d score a hit before their enemies did.