The Corvus Republic Civil Defense Force was scattered all over the city in countless teams. Each one was composed of humans and synths and drogar and wolves, all of whom worked in tandem to help the Imperial citizens around them.
It didn’t matter if the citizens were wounded or not, hungry or not, weary or not. The CDF went to each and every one, and did their best to help them.
As they always did, they provided food, clothing, medicine, comfort, anything at all that could help.
But most importantly, they offered sanctuary and safety to everyone they came across. It didn’t matter who they were, what their clan status was, how old or young, how healthy or wealthy. All were welcomed.
Many accepted outright.
Wh
Orsethii stood on the bridge of her cruiser and watched the destruction that unfolded all around her. Her fleet took apart the Corvus Republic as best they could. And despite the fact that the Republic wasn’t fighting back, it was taking them far too long to actually dismantle them.A deep unsettling thought spread through her officers, one that gave some of them pause during their unrelenting attack.Except Orsethii. She found herself angered more and more knowing that the Republic refused to fight back. Worse, that they weathered her own attacks gracefully.She practically ignored their request for parley, though ultimately the connection was forced on her. A number of the First Feathers appeared on the wraparound screen and as holoprojections around the bridge without any approval from Orsethii whatsoever.
Orsethii grinned devilishly as space flashed all around her fleet. Or rather, as Ra’ventrii’s fleet flashed into their broken part of space.But that grin slowly faded and turned into a frown as more and more ships kept flashing in. The sheer enormity of it was mind-boggling.Although they had original estimates from her very first encounter with the Empire, and although Orsethii expected the fleet to grow, she didn’t expect it would grow to this size.The Einherjar now had three devastators - two Imperial and one from the Hegemony. They were accompanied by dozens of battleships and carriers, hundreds of cruisers, thousands of destroyers and frigates. And there were far too many fighters and mecha on the field for them to count.This was truly a f
The southern end of the wraparound screen split into two small portions and slid to the side. That allowed the Orsethii and her bodyguards into Thanatos’ bridge unimpeded. They walked in with authority as though they were inside their own ship.Trailing behind them were Azrael and Raijin, who glanced around at the massive bridge surrounding them. They were somewhat in awe over it - they had never seen a bridge quite that large and imposing.More than that, the room was also incredibly dark, and was just as gloomy and shadowy as the rest of the ship itself. In fact, the only thing that actually lit the bridge was the wraparound screen itself.On it were live feeds of every ship in Orsethii’s fleet. No doubt massive guns were pointed in their direction as well.
Watching Freya and the ship recover with blinding speed shook Orsethii a great degree. Though she could easily do the same with her own body, there was something else that completely unnerved her. She certainly didn’t feel the same way the first time the two of them had dueled.Orsethii couldn’t quite put her finger on the feeling. It was a bit like looking down an impossibly long cliff, and getting overwhelmed by vertigo. There was an inevitability that surrounded Freya. And it wasn’t so much a feeling of being overwhelmed but rather one of oblivion.It snuck into her the same way that the ship’s oppressive darkness did as well. That feeling eroded her slowly, as though she was surrounded on all sides by something intangible, and it chipped away at her bit by bit by bit.The drogar focused o
“Stop!” screamed Azrael.Freya instantly stopped mid-thrust, with the very tips of her talons mere millimeters from Azrael’s face.The girl was breathing heavily, just as heavily as Orsethii behind her. It seemed she used every bit of her own energy to speed towards the drogar and defend her with her own body. Despite her obvious exhaustion, she kept herself on her feet, and even extended her arms out as far as they could go.“Out of the way!” Freya said through gritted teeth.“No!” Azrael countered. “You’re gonna haveta remove me if you want her!”Freya’s other arm reared back as though to swat Azrael out of the way. But she struggled to swing the moment it re
It seemed like an eternity before Freya’s sobs finally stopped. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face felt puffy and wet. She felt utterly miserable and weak all over. And deep inside as well.She pushed herself up onto her knees and wiped away what tears she could with both her hands. It felt as though she had just bathed in them.After a moment, she looked up at Azrael, who was smiling kindly at her. She quickly reached in and gave her a tight hug, which they held for a few seconds.“Thank you,” Freya said as she let go. “I really needed the rescue. I felt… I felt like I was trapped in an endless pit, down at the bottom. I-I tried to climb out at first, but everything kept crumbling under my fingers.”Freya looked at her hands, her
The holoprojection of Orsethii joined the other officers aboard the Einherjar’s primary tactical bridge. The numerous heads of the various fleets surrounded the central tacmap, though only a handful were actually on the bridge itself. The rest were holoprojections just like Orsethii.The Reborn looked at each of them as she walked up. And to her honest surprise, a third of the officers were themselves drogar.Orsethii put a fist to her chest in salute, then gave the bridge officers a short bow.“With all here as witness,” she began, “I, Dreadmother Orsethii, surrender my fleet to the Einherjar. My ships are now yours.”“No they don’t,” Anali replied.The pips on her collar
Freya walked down a stone pathway towards the meadow inside of a wooded park. Or rather, the wooded park inside of the unnamed cruiser that was the heart of the Republic.Of course, its citizens had long since tired of it being unnamed, and had thus renamed it Folkvang. Because of that, the park itself was renamed Folkvang Forest, which was apt despite only having sparse woods inside it.She came to the middle of the meadow and looked up at the sculpture that towered above her.It wasn’t holographic or any kind of digital projection - this sculpture was a real, physical, tangible thing. She walked right up to it and touched it with an open hand. It felt cold, hard, metallic.The entire sculpture was made of bands of metal which felt soft under her fingers, li