The bridge of the Nevermore was silent, save for the rapid tapping of consoles and the low hum of the ship’s systems. Admiral Semiramis Natu stood at the center, hands gripping the edges of her command table, eyes glued to the shimmering display that represented the battlefield outside.

“Admiral…” one of the bridge officers, Lieutenant Varsha, spoke up, her voice shaking. “The shields… they’re… glowing.”

Semiramis’ eyes narrowed, her sharp mind already processing the situation. On the screen, the once flickering, ghostly blue shields of Blitzkrieg were flaring up, growing more intense with every second. The vast expanse of space lit up with a flash of energy, an unnatural and overwhelming surge from the Blitzkrieg. Her breath caught in her throat as the ghostly blue shield surrounding the Blitzkrieg, once barely visible under the continuous bombardment, suddenly brightened to an intense blue glow.

"That energy level..." she muttered. Then her instincts kicked in instantly, and her voice cut through the stunned silence on the bridge. "All ships! Break formation! Full reverse, max burn! Get distance now!"

Her officers and captains, seasoned veterans of a hundred battles, hesitated for only a moment before reacting. The order rang out across the fleet, and like a well-oiled machine, her armada responded. The tone in her voice carried urgency beyond orders—it was survival. Across the massive UGTR fleet, engines roared to life, thrusters flared, and ships pulled back with everything they had. The elliptical pattern that had surrounded the Blitzkrieg disintegrated as ships scrambled to evade what they could not understand.

Semiramis’s flagship, Nevermore, surged backward, its thrusters at full capacity. The smaller corvettes and frigates followed suit, darting away with greater agility. But the larger battleships, carriers, and destroyers were too slow.

“Full power to engines!” one of her most trusted officers barked. “Get us out of range, now!”

The Nevermore shuddered as it pushed its thrusters to the limit, its sister ships following in its wake. But even with the sudden maneuver, not all could make it.

A blinding burst of energy and light erupted from Blitzkrieg, expanding out in a dome of shimmering particles. It radiated outward with terrifying speed, like a burning sun, consuming everything in its path. The viewports of the Nevermore polarized automatically, but even then, the bridge crew instinctively shielded their eyes.

“Energy spike detected! Brace for impact!” shouted one of the officers.

The blast wave moved with terrifying speed, overtaking the slower vessels in the fleet. Frigates and destroyers caught in the burst were obliterated instantly, their hulls melting into molten wreckage. Even the larger battleships struggled to escape, some of them reduced to twisted metal hulks as the energy enveloped them.

The Nevermore made it out just in time, as did a handful of other ships. But their relief was short-lived. The bright pulse began to dissipate, leaving in its wake a field of wreckage, the fleet was in shambles. Semiramis’s eyes narrowed as her tactical display filled with red marks—ships that were being obliterated by the pulse. She stared at the aftermath, a sea of melted, burning debris where her fleet once stood strong.

"Status report!" Her voice was firm, but beneath it was a cold edge of disbelief and her knuckles turning white while clenched behind her back. The silence was oppressive. Then, the casualty reports started flooding in.

"Admiral," Her tactical officer looked pale and replied with a grim tone. "W-we’ve l-lost 64% of the fleet... five hundred and sixty-one ships are gone... battleships, carriers, destroyers... and we haven’t even started calculating losses on our fighter and bomber wings."

Semiramis stared at the battlefield before her, the wreckage of her once-proud fleet drifting in the cold of space. She could see the burnt, melted ruins of ships that hadn’t escaped in time. That much loss. All because of one ship. Almost two-thirds of her armada was gone in a heartbeat. But her voice remained steady.

“Admiral, your orders?” Varsha asked, her voice quavering. The rest of the crew, still reeling from the destruction, turned their gazes toward their leader, looking for direction.

"Reassess our assets, and prepare to continue the assault."

The crew on the bridge shifted a collective unease settling in. The loss of so many ships was demoralizing, but more than that, the Blitzkrieg—a vessel they could not comprehend—seemed to defy logic itself.

"We have an opening. That energy surge came at a cost. It most probably drained the Blitzkrieg's energy reserves." she said, pointing to the flickering data on her holo-display feed. "Resume bombardment. Prioritize the weak points."

The command brought some semblance of order back to the fleet, her calm and decisive manner reinvigorating the shaken crew. Despite the staggering losses, the remaining UGTR ships quickly reformed their ranks, and Semiramis’s calm leadership reestablished discipline. She knew that some of her officers, and perhaps even some of the captains under her, were beginning to doubt the wisdom of this battle. But they had their orders, and in UGTR, they did not tolerate hesitation.

"All ships, regroup in the previous formation. Railguns, missiles, everything—focus fire on these assigned priority targets.” She ordered as she passed them the potentially vulnerable parts of the exposed Blitzkrieg.

--

Onboard the Blitzkrieg, Ubel’s grin widened at the sight of the explosion that had just decimated the UGTR fleet.

"Tenacious little gnats, aren’t they?" He watched with amusement as his enemies scrambled to reposition. Through his live holo feed, the swarm of UGTR ships were closing in again. They had regrouped faster than expected.

“But still… God damn, I didn’t expect that to be another overkill.” He muttered to himself. His droids continued their methodical work, completely unfazed by the chaos unfolding outside. “I should probably thank this UGTR Armada later for allowing me to test my ship against them. Keep them busy with our main guns while we wait for the energy to cycle back."

--

The bombardment continued, UGTR ships unloading everything they had against the Blitzkrieg's hull. But despite the relentless assault, the titan remained largely unscathed. The Nanoveramite coating on the hull was absorbing most of the impact, dissipating the kinetic energy. Something that Semiramis and the UGTR had yet to understand as she watches as her fleet reengaged the Blitzkrieg, now hammering away at the exposed hull.

“What is with this ship?” Semiramis’ disbelief colored her tone, whispering to herself. She could feel the morale of her crew slipping. The Blitzkrieg had withstood everything they’d thrown at it. And now, even without its shields, it shrugged off attacks like nothing once again. Her bridge officers, men and women who had faced impossible odds before, were beginning to look at the titan not as a ship, but as something else entirely—an indomitable force of nature.

She glanced at her tactical feed display again, at least she could reassure herself that they still had that targeting jammer ship, hidden in the rogue station. This allowed them to trap Blitzkrieg earlier in this space, disabling its FTL jump and its safety computers.

But then as her thoughts ended, the Banedog’s Backyard, the station that had become a dot in her vision, suddenly registered an immense energy spike.

"What was that?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Admiral... Banedog’s Backyard just... disappeared." One of the junior officers on the bridge, still tapping furiously at his console, paled.

"What do you mean, ‘disappeared’?" Semiramis’ eyes flashed with fury. She walked closer quickly to the officer and looked at his consoles.

"The energy signature—it spiked, and then... it’s gone. No trace of the station remains, and the FTL jamming field it was producing has vanished."

The weight of those words settled like a stone in Semiramis’ gut.

“Damn them!” she hissed, slamming her fist against the console. Her anger was controlled but palpable, the bridge crew tensing at the shift in her demeanor.

"The jammer ship is no longer operational in this battle. Blitzkrieg has regained its FTL capabilities." Semiramis seethed. The Blitzkrieg was no longer trapped. She knew now that Ubel could escape at any moment if he chose to.

Yet, despite the gravity of the situation, Semiramis did not panic and her mind was racing. The Blitzkrieg could now escape if Ubel wanted to—but he hadn’t. This meant that the Q-TN4 shells that struck Blitzkrieg were still around.

"Prepare all remaining forces. Focus fire on the target’s thrusters!”

"But Admiral—" the officer started to protest, but Semiramis cut her off with a sharp look.

"There is no turning back. If the Blitzkrieg escapes, this battle will have been for nothing. And this would result in a defeat that would stain the UGTR navy." Semiramis said coldly.

As her fleet followed orders, the bombardment increased tenfold, each strike now focusing on the hull of the Blitzkrieg. The railguns pounded away at the thrusters, but the hull still absorbed the blows. Frustration began to creep in, but Semiramis did not waver.

No. She couldn’t let this stand. Even if she couldn’t destroy the Blitzkrieg, at least she had to ensure that the UGTR knew what they were up against.

"Prepare the drone," she ordered quietly, almost as an afterthought. "I already demanded another wave of reinforcement, we just need to hold that ship here. And if we fail before they arrive, someone from UGTR Command will need all the information. They need to know what we’ve faced here.”

The bridge crew obeyed, scrambling to launch the drone that would carry the vital information away from the battle. Semiramis had made up her mind: if she died today, at least the UGTR would not go blind into the next confrontation. A small, sleek drone detached from the Nevermore, disappearing into the blackness of space, carrying the precious data on the Blitzkrieg.

--

Ubel sat in his command chair, staring at the data flooding in from his droids, fingers drumming rhythmically on the armrest while calculating his options. Blitzkrieg’s once impenetrable shields were down, his combat drones depleted, and his ship was now vulnerable with nothing but Nanoveramite plating, turrets, and point defenses.

He could see it now—a battle he might lose if he did not reveal more of his cards. As much as the thought intrigued him, it wasn’t what he wanted today. Not yet.

“A magician never reveals all of his cards, huh,” Ubel muttered as he mused. "So, we either wipe them out now, or we figure out how to deal with that damn slime."

“Energy shields: offline.” The robotic voice of his command droid echoed through the chamber. “Nanoveramite plating: intact. Thruster control: 0.2% operational.”

“How long will it take for the shields to return?” he asked the command droid.

"Shields recharging. Two hours until full capacity." The monotone voice of one of his droids broke his thoughts. Ubel sighed.

"Two hours..." he muttered. "That’s more than enough time for UGTR to rain hell on us."

As if to confirm his thoughts, another droid spoke.

"Detected incoming UGTR reinforcements. Current fleet strength: 2,320 vessels. ETA - One hour."

"Well, that’s not promising." A sharp whistle escaped Ubel’s lips.

Ubel sighed, scratching the back of his head. He had tested the limits of the Blitzkrieg—and himself—more than he had intended. The UGTR had thrown far more at him than anticipated. And now, with their upcoming reinforcements and the mysterious slime that locked his thrusters in place that continued to cripple his ship’s movement, he was starting to feel the pressure.

“If their reinforcements arrive…” he murmured to himself, voice low, contemplative. “Blitzkrieg will be in trouble.”

He sighed, his mind racing through options.

“Hey,” Ubel called out his command droid. He started to assume that the UGTR had several waves coming in. “What are the odds of wiping them out before their next possible wave arrives?”

“Our current ammunition would still allow this ship to project a success rate of 72%.”

Wiping out the UGTR forces was honestly tempting for him, but with more reinforcements on the horizon, even that wasn’t guaranteed to give him a clear escape. Especially if the reinforcing UGTR ships had more of this mysterious slime compound. Blitzkrieg's primary defenses were down, leaving only the hull’s thick Nanoveramite plates and the ship’s point-defense cannons and turrets cannons to hold the line. The UGTR forces were relentless, pounding away at his ship with railgun fire, trying to find a weakness in the armor.

“Commander, the spatial distortion that we had detected earlier had disappeared and stabilized.” The droid reported a sudden detection that caught their attention.

“Finally! So, we’re finally free to warp?” Ubel thought that maybe he had accidentally struck the jamming ship earlier.

“We still need to find a way to take out the unknown compound that struck the ship’s thrusters.” The droid reminded him of another problem.

The slime, still clinging to the thrusters, kept the ship immobile. Despite the efforts of the drones and droids to take it out of their hull while under fire, there was very little progression. Without mobility, he was an easy target with the massive size of his ship to his disadvantage.

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"Unknown vessel identified. Friendly IFF detected." Another droid interrupted.

“Friendly?” Ubel frowned, tapping a finger on the armrest. “What?”

The droids remained silent, processing data. And then—

“Incoming ID detected. Origin: unknown. Registered with command systems.”

Ubel straightened in his seat. An ID? Familiar to Blitzkrieg? He leaned forward, brow furrowing. His droids pinged him with new data—someone was attacking the UGTR encirclement.

Before he could even process what was happening, the droids reported a new wave of fire coming from the periphery of the battlefield, this time targeting the UGTR forces. Railgun shots pierced through the UGTR encirclement, catching the enemy fleet by surprise.

“What the—” Ubel’s eyes darted across the screens, watching as the UGTR forces scrambled to fire back at the new arrival. The intruder zipped around Blitzkrieg, skillfully evading the counter-fire.

And then a voice came through his comms, one that made Ubel groan in recognition.

"Oi, kid! Seems like you're in a tight spot again, eh?" The voice was confident, playful, and unmistakable.

Ubel pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh.

"Creed... seriously?" he muttered, shaking his head. Ubel leaned back in his chair with a roll of his eyes. "Idiots… Why are you getting involved again?"

“We were in the neighborhood. Thought we’d drop by.” another voice on the other end chuckled, which he remembered to be from Bastille.

“Of course. Of course, it’s you.” He leaned back, speaking into the comms. “You couldn’t just stay out of this, could you?”

“Hey, Ubel, you big idiot. Looks like you’ve gotten yourself in a mess again,” came Eris's voice, laced with her usual mocking tone.

On the screen, the familiar shape of the Godright came into view, dancing between the railgun fire from the UGTR fleet. Creed, at the helm of his vessel, was once again making a nuisance of himself. Ubel couldn't decide if he was relieved or annoyed. But at the very least, he was intrigued despite himself.

“We’ve got something for you,” another familiar dry female voice cut through, which he noted to be Ursa’s. “Brace yourself, boy.”

“Yeah, hold tight." Creed’s voice turned serious. "We’re going to fire at your ship. Trust me, it’s for your good.”

“What?” Ubel blinked, his irritation turning into curiosity. “Fire? What the hell are you—”

Before he could finish, several shells burst from Godright’s main guns, unleashing several shells that streaked across space. Ubel watched the trajectory closely. They sailed toward Blitzkrieg’s thrusters and landed cleanly alongside the UGTR barrage. Ubel waited for the impact, expecting something to go wrong. But the Nanoveramite hulls held, absorbing the shots without a scratch.

"Uh…Nice aim, I guess?" Ubel muttered, confused at their actions. “I know that UGTR may have sent out a bounty for me and my ship, but you can’t scratch my Blitzkrieg with those pea-shooters.”

“That wasn’t the point, you smug bastard,” Creed responded with a grin in his voice. “Look again.”

Ubel’s eyes snapped back to the live holo feed, his curiosity piqued. The shells landed cleanly on his thrusters—not on the Blitzkrieg’s nanoveramite hull, but on the slime encasing his thrusters. Upon impact, the shells exploded, but instead of heat, they released a freezing blast. The slime, previously gripping the thrusters, was instantly frozen into a solid sheet of ice.

This reminded him of how Traja, the bounty hunter who had become his personal stalker, used freezing rounds to disable his regeneration ability. He whistled and had to admit that he didn’t think of that earlier.

"Thrusters operational. Slime integrity compromised." His droids chimed in, confirming his suspicions.

“Well, I’ll be damned… that’s actually clever.” Ubel eyes lit up in realization. A grin spread across his face, excitement bubbling within him. He quickly barked an order to his droids. “Max burn on the thrusters! Let’s see if we can break this thing off!”

“Affirmative. Initiating thruster burn.”

The Blitzkrieg groaned and rumbled as the thrusters flared to life, pushing against the frozen mass. For a moment, nothing happened. The slime resisted, gripping tight, but then—crack! The frozen mass began to splinter, and with one final surge of power, the slime shattered into glittering fragments under the force. And finally, its grip on the ship’s propulsion systems was released, breaking away from the hull entirely.

The massive titan shuddered as it roared back to life, its thrusters fully operational once again. With a triumphant smile, Ubel watched as Blitzkrieg regained full mobility.

“Hah!” Ubel let out a bark of laughter. “You did it! You crazy fools actually did it!”

“Don’t say I never helped you out,” Creed replied, sounding smug. “Now, how about we mop up these UGTR bastards?”

“Oh, we’re gonna do a lot more than that. I have a debt to pay to these Terrans. It’s only fair if I give something equal to that slime that stuck on my ship.” Ubel’s grin widened, his eyes glinting with excitement.

---

From the Nevermore, Admiral Semiramis watched the unfolding events with growing frustration. Despite the losses, she had the upper hand in restricting Blitzkrieg here. But this new ship—this Godright—had thrown a wrench into her plans.

“Admiral, we’ve detected a large energy spike from the Blitzkrieg. Their thrusters have been reactivated,” one of her officers reported, his voice tense.

"How did they get free? What is that ship?" Semiramis clenched her jaw.

“Unknown, Admiral. It’s not registered in any of our databases.” The officer replied. “It seemed that the unknown ship had shot several shells to Blitzkrieg, and struck the Q-TN4 that held its thrusters with freezing compounds. This broke the Q-TN4 and freed Blitzkrieg.”

She cursed under her breath, watching as the Blitzkrieg began to move once more.

"We cannot let it escape now!" Her voice carried the weight of command, but deep down, she knew the battle was slipping out of her control. As more and more UGTR ships poured fire on Blitzkrieg, the massive vessel slowly began to turn, its massive thrusters burning bright as it angled for a new course.

“Admiral, their shields are still down,” one of her executive officers said, his voice hopeful. “We can still take them if we—”

“We won’t get another chance if they jump away,” Semiramis interrupted sharply. “I want every ship including this ship shoot down those two!”

Her red eyes stared at the empty space where the massive vessel had been moments before. She inhaled slowly, trying to rein in the fury burning in her chest. The battle was slowly turning to her and she felt in her gut that she had lost.

But it was not over yet.

The Blitzkrieg's command deck was alive with the quiet buzz of Ubel’s droids, diligently feeding tactical information into the various monitors. Ubel leaned back, watching the unfolding chaos outside. His ship's shields were down, the hull taking a battering from the UGTR fleet’s relentless assault. Yet, a familiar smile played on his lips. His eyes flickered toward his holo feed, where Godright danced among enemy fire, fending off UGTR attacks as best it could.

The Godright began taking heavy fire as the UGTR fleet shifted their attention, its sleek frame dodging and weaving between incoming railgun fire and missiles, but it was clear that the enemy was closing in. Explosions echoed in the black expanse of space as shots found their mark, and the hull of the Godright shuddered under the assault.

"Shields are taking a beating!" Creed's voice came through the comms, a hint of tension lacing his usual cocky tone. “Ubel, whatever you’re planning on doing, you’d better do it fast!”

Ubel, sitting calmly in his command chair, observed the chaos through the viewscreens. Shells and energy beams rained down on Creed’s ship as Ubel’s scanners picked up the damage readings. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the console, his mind working at lightning speed. He could see the path ahead clearly: he could use the Godright as bait, let Creed and his crew take the brunt of the attack while he slipped away, leaving the UGTR forces to devour them… and there was another option.

"Ah, Godright," Ubel said lazily, "always good for a distraction."

But then something flickered at the edge of his vision. His eyes narrowed as a faint silhouette began to materialize in the space around him—Kiryu, the figure from his past, usually laid-back expression darkened with concern, arms crossed. He stared at Ubel through the fog of his subconscious.

“Running away now? What a bother. Always such a coward when things get interesting.” Kiryu spoke first while lighting up a cigarette. The voice was dripping with mockery. “Hypocrisy, Ubel. You live for the challenge, don’t you?”

“I didn’t know you had found them wanting already.” His grin widened as he sat up, leaning forward with a manic gleam in his eyes. “By the way, once we show that, there’s no turning back.”

Kiryu just shrugged and answered.

“So?”

Ubel let out a sharp, surprised laugh at his reply.

“True,” He chuckled, the sound carrying through the bridge. His eyes gleamed, filled with a wild, reckless energy. “What’s life without some hardship to spice things up? Right?”

Then he swiveled his chair toward the command panel and barked an order to his droids. Ubel's grin turned predatory. There was another weapon he hadn’t planned to use yet, a weapon of such destructive potential that even revealing it would put the UGTR on high alert. But if UGTR wanted to push him this far, then he was happy to oblige. He didn’t care, anymore. The more they knew, the greater the future challenges would become.

“Prepare the Graviton Lance Emitter."

The droids whirred into action, acknowledging the command.

“Affirmative. Graviton Lance Emitter deploying… charging.”

A panel on the Blitzkrieg’s surface slid open, revealing a hidden turret, almost unnoticeable among the hail of railgun fire and missiles that lit up the void. It unfolded slowly with its components aligning as it began to charge with a low hum that reverberated through the entire ship.

"Good," Ubel muttered. "Use it to make way through Godright’s coordinates. Send a message to Godright to maintain this pattern... If they don't want getting struck by mistake."

While the Blitzkrieg's primary weapons—its railguns, gatling turrets, and point defense systems—kept the UGTR forces occupied, the Graviton Lance built power, unnoticed by most of the enemy fleet.

But not by Semiramis in her Nevermore.

On the bridge of the Nevermore, her eyes narrowed as her sensors picked up an energy spike from the Blitzkrieg.

"Admiral, there’s a massive energy buildup coming from their ship." one of her officers reported, alarmed.

Semiramis’ face went pale as she realized what was happening. She barely had time to issue the command before the Graviton Lance fired.

With a deafening roar, one of Blitzkrieg’s superweapons was released.

The effect was instantaneous and devastating.

The space around Blitzkrieg warped as the emitter unleashed its concentrated gravitational force. The lance of energy cut through space itself, bending and distorting anything along its path. Every UGTR ship in its way was caught in the maelstrom and was torn apart as the crushing gravitational forces ripped them from existence. The beam stretched forward, an almost imperceptible wave at first—silent, deadly. Even the light seemed to bend around the beam. Ships buckled and contorted as they were pulled into the gravitational field while some were thrown off course by the sheer force of the gravitational rupture.

Her tactical display flickered in split seconds as ship after ship vanished from the battlefield. She felt like the time had suddenly slowed as Nevermore was struck and lurched violently. Alarms blared, and her bridge crew screamed as consoles exploded in a shower of sparks. She felt something hitting her body and she blacked out.

Ships caught in the beam were not simply destroyed—they were crushed, compacted into infinitesimal points, and their matter reduced to nothing as the gravitational force consumed them. The smaller ships disintegrated instantly and vaporized in the blink of an eye. One moment, there were hundreds of UGTR ships. The next, they were gone, obliterated without a trace. It wiped out a massive portion of the UGTR encirclement in mere seconds. Those ships that were lucky enough to be outside its killzone could only watch in horror as their comrades were erased.

--

"There we go. That should make some room."

Inside the Blitzkrieg, Ubel watched with detached fascination as the Graviton Lance finished its work. The path was clear, a gaping hole punched through the enemy lines.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he murmured to himself. The UGTR ships in the path of the beam had no chance. The Blitzkrieg was now free, and the path to Godright was clear. “Well, that worked out better than expected.”

“Course plotted. Utilizing graviton field for spatial travel.” The droid interrupted his immersion.

The Blitzkrieg shifted, and the space around it began to warp and fold. Ubel used the residual energy from the Graviton Lance Emitter to create a corridor, allowing the Blitzkrieg to slip through space at impossible speeds. The Blitzkrieg surged forward, its engines roaring to life as it navigated through the cleared path of space left by the Graviton Lance. The debris and wreckage of the UGTR ships were scattered around like broken toys, and the surviving enemy forces were in disarray, their communication lines with the Nevermore severed after the flagship had been struck by the beam. Within moments, the massive titan-class vessel moved through the battlefield, right toward the Godright.

“Creed,” Ubel’s voice crackled over the comms, “bring that junker of yours in. You’re docking in. We’ve got a window, but it’s going to be a tight situation.”

The Godright, now heavily damaged but still operational, aligned itself with the Blitzkrieg's docking bay. Drones from the Blitzkrieg swarmed out and moved in perfect synchronization, guiding the Godright into the docking bay with precision. All this while under fire from desperate UGTR ships, trying to stop the two ships from joining forces.

“Stay steady,” Creed grumbled, hands gripping the controls. "We're almost there."

Under the cover of the Blitzkrieg's point-defense turrets, the Godright slipped into the docking bay, magnetic clamps engaging as the ships connected. The drones immediately went to work, repairing the hull and sealing breaches as the docking hatch closed behind them, locking them inside the relative safety of the titan-class ship.

"Docking complete," one of the droids reported. Ubel smirked, watching the status display.

“We’re in,” Creed’s voice came through the comms, sounding relieved. “Thanks! I thought you were going to leave us.”

"Good, welcome aboard. Now, let's get out of here," Ubel muttered, fingers flying across the controls. “Brace yourselves for warp. Droids, start the sequence. We’re done here."

"Warp systems: operational. Destination coordinates: ready." The droid acknowledged his orders.

“Godright,” Ubel called over the comms. “We’re leaving.”

These words were short but it was immediately understood by Creed as he nodded in his holo feed.

“No argument from me,” Bastille replied, shrugging playfully.

“Yeah, proceed… Commander!” Creed responded, laughing.

With a final grin, Ubel hit the warp command.

“Warp sequence initiated. Countdown: 3 seconds.”

“3… 2… 1… Warping!”

The Blitzkrieg's engines roared once more, bending the very fabric of space-time. The UGTR fleet fired everything they had, desperate to prevent the escape, but it was too late. In a blink, the massive ship vanished, leaving the wreckage of the UGTR fleet behind.

.

--

The once-mighty UGTR armada was now a graveyard of twisted metal and debris, the majority of its ships either destroyed or critically damaged. On the remains of the armada’s flagship, Nevermore, Admiral Semiramis struggled to stay conscious. The entire upper half of the ship had been vaporized, leaving jagged, burnt wreckage behind. Sparks flew from severed cables, and alarms blared, but Semiramis barely registered them.

Fleet Admiral Semiramis floated in the zero-gravity environment in her shattered bridge, her vision hazy. Her left arm and leg were gone, vaporized along with the hull of her ship. Blood seeped from the cauterized stumps, but she didn’t allow herself to acknowledge the pain. Not yet. She needed to stay in control. Needed to salvage what was left of her fleet.

“Status… report…” she rasped, her voice hoarse. “Survivors…?”

She looked around and saw that her entire bridge crew was either dead or incapacitated. Blood floated in the air around her, droplets suspended in the weightlessness. It was only thanks to her suit that automatically protected her from the void that quickly covered her head. Allowing her to breathe in the now, destroyed and exposed bridge of Nevermore. Her breath came in shallow gasps as she tried to maintain consciousness, her mind refusing to give in despite the pain. She reached out, her remaining hand grasping at a console to connect her feed with the rest of the fleet—or what’s left of it.

"Ad... Admiral..." One of her surviving officers, her voice weak, managed to choke out a word. She was barely holding on, her body broken and battered.

Then another officer next to her, barely alive himself, tried to respond, his voice weak and shaky, but could only utter incomprehensible words. Despite the cybernetics and implants that were inside their bodies that would assist them in surviving even the most grievous wounds, it was still not enough. Her mind swam in and out of focus, the edges of her vision going black. Despite the overwhelming destruction, despite the loss of her ship, her fleet, and her own body, she forced herself to stay sharp. She knew she had lost, but she couldn’t let the disorder sink in.

“Order... salvage what we can,” she managed to say, her voice barely audible. “Get survivors... organized. Initiate… re… recovery operations…”

She tried to issue more commands, but her strength failed her. But as the final word left her lips, her vision blurred, and she collapsed, floating unconsciously.

--

In the vast emptiness of space, the Blitzkrieg traveled through warp, leaving behind nothing but wreckage and a battered UGTR fleet. Ubel leaned back in his chair, a grin still tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Well," he said to himself, "that was fun."

And somewhere, he could still hear Kiryu’s voice, faint but lingering. While another was smirking.

"Fun, huh?"