We continued onward, the crusade practically over. It didn't turn out how I expected. I thought that it would take longer. I thought that I would slowly take down the traitors and then face off against the other Alpha. Now I would have to clean up. The main focus is now finished and now the secondary focuses. 

We arrived at our destination in a couple of days. We arrived at the planet Rusch, the homeworld of the Skallfin. They were a large and muscular race that excelled at combat. They produced some of the greatest military minds in this galaxy and some of the best fighters. They were humanoid with deep red skin and four arms. They stood at 3-meters tall at the shortest and had four arms that ended with claw-like hands. They had hooves and goat-like legs.

They had goat-like horns and were hairy. Most of their body is covered with fur. The women had less fur, while the men were nearly completely covered in it. This helped them deal with the cold climate and high mountains that feature across the world. With only a few places that are suitable for farming within a region they either came together or battled for it.

These conditions made them into an extremely hardy and cunning race. The years of battling for precious farmland or tricking others for it sharpened their minds and bodies. When they developed into a spacefaring race they brought those characteristics with them and helped form the Federation. They either acted as generals, soldiers, and diplomats throughout the entirety of the federation. 

Now I was attacking them as they held one of the top 3 most heavily defended planets and one that was nearly considered impenetrable. Now was the time to see if they could truly be called one the most brilliant races in the galaxy. I wanted to see if they would fight or surrender to me. They would be very helpful to fight against the new entities that are appearing in the galaxy. 

My fleet appeared in the system the same as we did in the Sol System. We were met with no resistance as we approached the planet. I sent out an announcement asking them to surrender. I received no response. I had all of the ships send out deep and thorough scans of the area. I was having Erendial and Aldion help less and less so that I wouldn't grow dependent on them. It also helped me with commanding and helped the crews with acting out the commands.

Nothing came up on the scans. There wasn't a single thing around us. We continued deeper into the system and there was still nothing. There wasn't even a defense fleet in the system. There were no communications either. It was unnaturally silent. I contacted each of the other fleets in the galaxy for an update. Nothing was happening with them either. Everything was fine.

We approached the planet and scanned it as well. The entire planet was empty. There was only plant and animal life on it. Everything else was gone. Cities were fully functional yet there wasn't a single person. Offices and homes were empty. Everything was shut down as well. The entire planet was like a global ghost town. I scanned everything in the system and the results came up the same. Everyone was gone. 

Unnerved, I ordered all of the ships to turn on their shields to full power. No, I ordered them to put on every shield they had at full power. I was just in time as well as multiple ships hit us at lightspeed. There was a flash of light and then there was nothing. Looked on as thirty ships in my fleet were no longer there. The rest of them were damaged at various levels.

The only reason the ships even survived was because of Erendial and Aldion combining the ship's shields together and strengthening them. My ship was perfectly fine, not a single scratch on it. The planet was molten rock, nothing survived on its surface. As I was taking in the damage a fleet arrived and broadcasted a request to talk, I accepted.

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A Skallfin, the people of Rusch, appeared. He had a shocked expression as he talked, "I have to admit, I did not expect you to survive let alone with so many of you."

"Your point being?" I said.

"Only that I expected your complete destruction and an end to this war." He had a calm voice.

"Too bad for you then. I cost you an entire planet and you still couldn't kill me. What a shame." 

"Yes, it truly is a shame. I will ask once, and only once, would you like to surrender? If you do I will let the rest of them live." He was cocky, I could feel it. He thought he had won. How wrong he was.

"Do you honestly think you could take me?" I asked.

"Oh yes, I do. You only have one fully operational ship. Even with your technological superiority, it won't be enough to go against my fleet filled with the strongest ships from the galaxy." He spread his arms as if displaying his fleet. It was quite large but far from enough.

I signaled to the crew and the ship started to move forward and in front of my fleet. Their shields were still functional and combined so they wouldn't be damaged easily, still, I wasn't taking that chance. This would also be a perfect chance to show them the futility of thinking they could defeat me as they were right now. 

"This may be the strongest fleet in the history of your federation but I will show you the strongest ship in the history of my people and the empire it formed. Witness some of the strength of my ship and hope you never anger me as you did at this moment with your false pride and arrogance. FIRE ALL CANNONS AND DESTROY THAT FLEET!!!" I roared out after cutting the connection. His face and voice screamed out the satisfaction he felt of thinking he had beat me and it angered me. He had no reason to believe that, he had no evidence of it. He was arrogant for no reason and I would show him as such. His people would pay for his error and I would have it haunt him for the rest of his life.

My ship fired out beams of lasers and that tore through the fleet. Gravity wells formed within the fleet and pulled in ships that crashed against each other. I had Aldion hack into some of the ships and have them fire and ram other ships. I had some overload their reactors and others vent the entire ship. I opened portals into Sub-Space and cleaved ships apart. It was a massacre. Within seconds nearly the entire fleet was destroyed.

I had them stop after the initial attack. I saw the remains of hundreds of ships floating in space. All without a shred of life in them. Over a million of individuals, all dead in mere moments. I stood there in silence taking it all in and realized I made a grave mistake. I had lost my cool and I didn't know why. Sure he angered me with his arrogance but that wasn't enough for me to massacre over a million innocent people. 

I closed my eyes and opened them again. When I did, I was shocked. I was back to when we had just entered the system. I looked around in shock and immediately had all of the ships turn on their most advanced shields and had Aldion combine the shields of the Indomitable to the rest of them. I then sat down on the floor in a lotus pose. I searched myself for anything that could influence my mind or emotions. 

I found something, something so small and subtle that even if I looked over myself, without looking for it specifically, I never would have found it. It was a slight bit of energy that only slightly deviated my energy. So slight that it would barely even affect me in normal circumstances. I studied it and memorized the energy frequency and signature. I then tried to see if it was still connected to whom or whatever put it there. I found no answers as the moment I tried to trace it the energy vanished.

With that settled, I got up and had the fleet move to the planet. Once there I made a transparent portal to a Sub-Space corridor that was empty and waited. Soon enough a ship traveling at the speed of light approached and went into the portal. Shortly thereafter, a large fleet arrived in the system. I then connected to the connection the flagship was sending out and looked at the shocked expression of the Admiral had. 

"Would you like to surrender knowing that your plan failed?" I said. 

He just stared at me with the same shocked expression. He then asked me for a second, which I allowed. After around a minute, he came back and spoke. "As I am sure that you know, the president called an emergency meeting. The meeting had started two days ago and only finished twelve hours ago. It was stated that the decision on whether or not the federation would surrender would be based on what happened during that 'battle'. With you showing your obvious superiority the federation would now formally declare its complete unconditional surrender. Its territory and people are now yours." 

And like that the war in the Milky Way had just ended. I was now the official leader of two galaxies and another on the way. This was a fast war, it had barely even lasted two weeks. Whatever, the sooner the better.