She stood calmly among the stars. Eyes closed, as if meditating, or listening to music no-one else could hear. Like the captain of a ship, content to listen to the calls of his well-trained crew as they trimmed the sails.

Fortunately, all of these were merely appearances.

If she had really been among the stars, she would have died rather quickly, and be surrounded by a halo of pretty red crystals… frozen tears of blood. Poetic, if you’re into gruesome death by explosive decompression.

If she really were meditating, millions of people would soon be dead. If she were listening to music nobody else could hear, she was probably nuts and those people would be just as dead.

In actuality, she was busy commanding her great black and white vessel to a convenient Lagrange point from where she could destroy an incoming comet.

Certainly her vessel looked nothing like a warship. Or, really, anything remotely warlike.

In fact, it looked exactly like a giant panda. Which it was, technically. So much for appearances.