The fleet was out in the middle of Imperial space, far from any settled or civilized systems. It was composed of hundreds of light cruisers and frigates, as well as thousands of heavy fighters and mecha.They weren’t there to rearm or regroup or repair. All they did was simply sit there.Or rather, all they did was monitor critical communications all throughout the Empire. They weren’t looking for any meaningful content in the communications themselves, of course. All they wanted to know was if any communications were happening at all.More importantly, if comms stopped, anywhere.Orsethii stood on the bridge of the lead cruiser. Her eyes narrowed as she scoured the countless holoreports that hovered all around her. In it were mere hints of Ra’ventrii a

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.

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.

“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

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