Raijin sank down into the vast sea of circuits that ran the entire station. Her nanite swarm spread all throughout the core as her own consciousness mingled with and reviewed the various intelligences that ran it. And although this was all something she had done hundreds, if not thousands of times before, this seemed a wholly new experience for her.The station’s complexity and advanced technology certainly helped in making her feel this way. Mostly, it was because she was analyzing code that had lasted for tens of thousands of years. The entire system’s operational core was certainly antiquated, but it allowed the more complex self-healing, self-repairing, self-learning Administrator to grow around it. She was able to patch over most of the old code and modernize it. Most would see that as its only saving grace, but Raijin saw a bit more in i

The Void Quark embedded itself in the iron ash core at the absolute center of the star itself, where it began to consume everything around it. And in the process, turned itself into a black hole.The sudden shift in gravitational pull at the core caused all the layers above to collapse and spin further inward, ever closer to oblivion. As it did so, it spun faster and radiated extreme amounts of radiation. Waves of intense heat and energy swept out as the black hole core was fed more and more, and caused it to grow exponentially.As a result, the star all around it turned a deep, dark orange and swelled larger and larger. Its equator began to bloat and stretch as the sheer energies of the black hole core spun it faster and faster. At the same time, it easily consumed the planets closest to it until it was to the point of bursting.

Swarmfather Delvath paced in small circles around the center of his bridge. Everywhere he looked, his fleet was battered to death from the robust de Jardin fleet. He couldn’t help but feel despair at his fleet’s predicament.Not once did he think that Imperial technological superiority could be outmatched. And yet the de Jardins had somehow outpaced them.“Where’s the rest of the assault fleet?!” he demanded. “They should’ve ported in here with us at the same gods-damned time!”“They’re citing delays due to technological problems,” reported a communications officer. “Reportedly, they will join us as soon as they’re able.”“Pah! Gods-forsaken liars. Can’t trust any of these dam

Both the Matriarch and the Grand Parliamentarian let out long sighs of relief as their primary reinforcement fleet flashed into space. Many of the technicians all around the control room sighed with relief along with them. All of their screens and holoprojectors were updated with countless alerts and reports and updates. Although what they saw relieved most of their immediate worries, High Admiral Pavir and his officers were far from content. In fact, their anxiety lowered only marginally, even though their numbers had practically doubled.—Typhon Defense FleetDevastators: 4Carriers: 12Battleships: 23

Matriarch de Jardin exhaled at length as she watched the Imperial devastator collapse in on itself. Its midsection crumpled inward as its demimatter generator burst and pulled everything into itself. Both of its ends were violently pulled inward, which caused its outer chitin to shatter and splinter on impact. Massive cracks spread across the surface, particularly close to the collapsed midsection.Its exoframe bent inward which caused the ship to twist and bend unnaturally, which cemented its demise. More than that, all of its major energy signatures plummeted swiftly before they vanished altogether.Cheers erupted from around the control room, particularly among the analysts. Even Pavir and his officers breathed a sigh of relief. But it was short-lived.