The ships of the Einherjar charged forward at speed towards the Discordian lines above them. They brought with them the ferocity and tenacity of a well-honed and experienced war fleet. But this time, they were tempered with calm discipline. All understood the stakes. Not just for the galaxy, but for their own souls. Their burdens were heavy enough with the blood they had already spilled and understood when to stay their hands.Thanatos and the other Imperial ships in the Einherjar went down the center line with absolute determination in their hearts. At the same time, the Hegemony ships in the Einherjar veered into the swirling mass to help defend the de Jardins.Although, one of the Hegemony subfleets stayed with Thanatos and the drogar.“Permission to take

Freya sat samurai-style in the center of Thanatos’ bridge, as she usually did. Big difference now however was simply that she was no longer accompanied only by Amarok. Surrounding her were her own techs and analysts seated at their terminals in the concentric trenches around her.The ink black lines that ran down her face and skin ebbed and thinned down to tiny strands as she minimized her telepathic connection to her devastator. And in doing so, allowed those around the bridge itself to pilot Thanatos for her.That more or less freed Freya up to analyze the battlefield in front of her. All the incoming data poured straight into her mind, through Thanatos’ intelligences and circuits. And of course, relayed what she determined to the rest of the officers on the Tactical Bridge. She did her best to read the information, and glean potential strategies

Waves of Freya’s shared energies swept through Colviss and Orsethii, both of whom actively felt it happening. They both instinctively realized what Freya was doing, for the most part anyway. And although they didn’t understand how she was accomplishing whatever she was doing, they certainly welcomed her efforts all the same.The two could easily feel themselves get more and more emboldened and empowered as the moments ticked by. In spite of their more aggressive natures, both still felt their apprehension and dread lift away.“We can’t win if we’re on the defensive,” Colviss exclaimed. “Pull in all the debris and initiate advanced repairs!”Waves of red energy swept inwards towards both Colviss’ flagship and Thanatos. And by drawing in their antigrav fields, also

“I want you to know that I had much higher expectations of you,” Eris said with a hint of derision. “When I first saw you, you were just some space tramp. Now look at you, leading nations and fleets. That’s because of me. I did that.”Freya pursed her lips in annoyance. She had heard words like these so many times before. The words were said by people like Eris, or like Grenn, or like Grizz. And they had been said in different ways with different words, different insults. But in the end they all came down to the same thing: they all needed to assert their domination over others, through every means possible. Even with the dumbest words strung together in all of existence.The words had little meaning or purpose or argument past that. And it was laughably transparent.

The space around Yggdrasil Station warped as thousands of ships and vessels flashed into orbit. First came Thanatos and the rest of the ships of the Einherjar. But with them also came various ships of the Discordians and the Federation. Or rather, ships that had surrendered to the Einherjar and were spared eradication from Godeater.There were also a handful of Imperial and de Jardin ships as well. Regardless of where they came from, almost all of the straggler fleet were utterly confused as to what had occurred. In one moment, they were fighting or repairing or running. And in the next, they were in unmarked, uncharted territory before all their sensors went completely dead.“W-what just happened?” cried a Federation officer. “Why’d all those ships… Why don’t we have any i