Vitor cursed and rubbed at his arm. He had been walking along when the plating in front of him failed. The loss of gravity caused him to tip forward, landing hard when the next plate’s gravity pulled him back down.

  He knew he should be using the mag boots, but they slowed him down too much. He took minor solace in the fact that he was not alone. Half the fleet was reporting partial gravity disruptions aboard their ships, and the problem was growing with each passing day. He would have reached out to Char to see how the Union fleets were faring, but he was restricting comm access to tight beam only while they were maneuvering in the same system as the Shican armada.

  They would only get one chance to take out the current leader of the armada. If the enemy detected an errant subspace signal from the comm node, it would end their trip early. He hadn’t spent the better part of a week looking for the best approach just to waste the opportunity, and there wasn’t much time left.

  He would have arrived sooner, but the closest gate was three systems away, safely within allied territory.

  They needed more ring gates, but he already knew Alex and Lucas were working on that issue.

  He arrived at the bridge without any more mishaps. Everyone was diligently monitoring their areas, and nobody looked worried. That was good. “Status of the enemy fleet?” he asked the watch commander.

  “Not much change, Captain. A few of the smaller enemy groups that were firing into the wreckage of the pirate stations have stopped, but they haven’t returned to the main fleet.”

  That was the only upside of the Shican’s arrival. Their main route into human space took them through an area that was home to smaller privateers and people looking to disappear. It was a small section of stars separating the former Anazi holdings and the Union, and was undesirable space because it had long been known as the route the Shican had taken during their first war.

  It might not be prime real estate, but the people who lived there didn’t do so because they liked to. Most who made a home out in the fringe were criminals who refused to work under more established pirates, were hiding from them, or had fled criminal prosecution within the STO. Some were worse than Dalton. Now they were gone, and the universe was a better place.

  If the Shican weren’t hell-bent on killing humanity, he would have sent them a fruit basket for doing what the STO should have done ages ago.

  “Is our vector of attack still open?” Vitor asked as his magnetized boots clacked against the floor as he headed toward his command chair.

  The bridge hadn’t lost gravity. Vitor had asked Chief Engineer Parson to remove all the good plates from areas where they weren’t critical and move them to engineering.

  It was a stopgap measure, but it should allow them to function for a little longer without resorting to zero-G maintenance. The drills had shown that everyone was rusty in that department.

  “It is for now,” the pilot confirmed, “but it’s closing.”

  Vitor had hoped for another day to get into a better position, but it looked like he was out of time.

  He sent the all-hands alert and alerted the other ships in the fleet to be ready.

  Once he got confirmation, he ordered the Judgement to jump. The other ships would jump to a different location and launch all of their missiles.

  The stealth weapons would coast toward the armada, and as soon as they were occupied dealing with them, Judgement would come out from the cover of the nearby asteroid field and fire its main cannon. It was as close as they could get without worrying about the enemy sensor ships spotting them.

  He would have preferred to fire the gun from much farther away, but the projectiles weren’t faster than light speed, and the enemy ships kept randomly maneuvering. He wouldn’t have risked the attempt at all if the enemy weren’t also being lazy. While their movements were random, the intervals weren’t.

  And thanks to their captives, they knew exactly which ships to target. That little piece of Shican tech was sitting in a storage room, hooked up to Judgement’s computer core. It displayed all the Shican ships in a slightly different shade of color, but he only cared about a few.

  A timer beeped, focusing Vitor’s thoughts. “That’s our cue, let’s move.”

  The battleship powered forward, leaving the shadow of the asteroid. As they did, the tactical display lit up with destruction indicators along the enemy’s flank.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Calculating a firing solution,” weapons said.

  Normally, that was done before a human could blink, but they needed to ensure a shot, so extra time was being spent to make sure the round went exactly where it needed to go.

  While the weapon officer was busy with that, Vitor highlighted the enemy’s sensor ships, which they had picked out while they stalked the Shican armada.

  “I want all of our lasers and missiles spread across those ships, but don’t fire until I give the command.”

  The second weapon officer confirmed the order, and the bridge slid into tense silence.

  “Firing solution confirmed!” the first officer confirmed.

  Vitor didn’t hesitate for a moment before giving the command. “Fire the EFEC.”

  He had never fired the battleship’s main weapon. It was a first strike weapon, but it was designed mainly for pinpoint orbital barrages, not rapidly changing space combat, so he didn’t know what to expect. The weapon system had been tested on a barren moon in Unokane, but that was before he took command of Judgement. He knew that the weapon worked and that its destructive potential was as advertised.

  When nothing happened, he looked at the equally confused weapon’s officer. “Did it misfire?”

  “Uh…no, sir. The computer confirmed the weapon fired.”

  Alex must have put in some powerful dampening systems into the weapon to make it so they didn’t even feel the ship shudder as the super-weapon fired.

  “Move down our target list and keep firing the EFEC until you empty our magazine or we are forced to leave. I also want an impact alert on the tac for the first round.”

  It only took seconds for the alert to go off.

  “Main target destroyed,” the sensor operator confirmed.

  “All weapons free,” Vitor ordered.

  Unlike with the EFEC, the lasers drew so much power that they dimmed the overhead lights noticeably. The missiles were less noticeable as they were launched from their tubes, but the ship did vibrate ever so slightly with each launch.

  “Incoming!” sensors warned as missiles were fired in retaliation from the enemy fleet. Lasers impacted Judgement’s energized armor only a moment later.

  The armor was holding, but it wouldn’t hold forever, not when there were over a thousand enemy ships in the area. He held off until the sensor operator confirmed the last of their main targets was destroyed.

  As much as he would like to stick around and see as many enemy ships reduced to expanding debris as possible, their mission was complete. “Jump us out of here.”

  The ship shook as the enemy poured more fire into them, but they couldn’t stop the warp field from forming unless they jumped on top of them and deployed a gravity trap. Some tried, but they were facing the wrong direction, and before any of them got the chance to line up properly, Judgement vanished.

  Their main objective had been completed, but he only saw a few of the enemy sensor ships explode. The missiles might get a few more, but with the enemy on high alert, he doubted that.

  He met back up with the rest of the BSE fleet, and they jumped toward their resupply ships. The mission was a success, but they had more hunting to do.

  ***

  “Where is Commander Dravun and the rest of my armada?” Thesska growled dangerously.

  The current commander in charge lowered his head and flicked his ears in worry, which only made Thesska even more annoyed.

  “Dravun was killed in a human strike. That same attack also caused the clan’s bloodlust to spike. Without a proper leader, the clans refused to listen to orders and chased after the humans. We have reports of ten of those clan fleets going quiet.”

  “Are you implying this is my fault?” Thesska asked coldly.

  “No, not at all, Grand Commander.”

  Thesska didn’t like the man’s insolent tone. He leaned forward in his chair and glared at the Commander through the video connection. “Don’t think that just because you have a distant connection to the main family that I won’t skin you alive and use your worthless hide as a rug for my quarters.”

  The Commander finally grew some backbone and hissed angrily in response to his threat.

  Thesska snorted at the fool, then sat back in his chair. “Document the foolish clans that died chasing the humans. They are obviously too weak to have such a high standing in the Empire. Their clan status will be lowered. Once you are done with that, you will recall the rest of the fleets. If they refuse, they will share the same fate. If they refuse a second time, they will be outcasts, and we will hunt them like the vermin they are. Are we clear, Commander?”

  “Yes, Grand Commander.”

  “Good, now get out of my sight.” He pressed the button and ended the call, but he was still fuming internally. Not at himself, but at his brother. The fool of an emperor had nominated some true-born buffoon as the armada’s lead commander, probably as some sort of political move, when he should have been here himself.

  Instead of ensuring the armada had a capable commander and backup, the emperor was back on the throne, wasting time appeasing the true-born and the heads of the top clans who were supporting them. A foolish endeavor. The clans should be appeasing the emperor, not the other way around.

  Thesska was aware that support was growing to limit or even end their expansion. Even to end their cloning program. It was driven by fear that the empire might encounter a species so powerful or large that it could easily wipe them out. It was utter nonsense. The strange silver sphere aliens were obviously far more advanced than the Shican, but even they fled in the face of the Empire’s overwhelming might.

  Any idiot pushing such an agenda didn’t know the truth: strength was safety.

  Thesska had planned on using the capture of the sphere aliens to push his political power and confront his brother, but things changed. The aliens had temporarily slipped through his claws. He would find them eventually, but now he needed to focus on bringing the fleet back together and destroying the humans as swiftly as possible.

  Once they were gone, he was going to take the fleet back to the throne world under his command and demand the head of his brother. If the emperor declined, that was fine too. Thesska would slag the world and start over on a new one, free of the fools and cowards holding the Empire back.

  As always, thanks for reading! And thanks for the support! If you enjoy the story, please rate it and comment below!

  Series finale is now available on Patreon!