"How big are the fleets we're working with?" I asked Principality Hart as I moved to the landing pads with our shuttles.

"I had nearly one hundred thousand ships to divide up," she informed me. "Per your orders, I broke them into three groups and I've given them the orders they need."

"You've been busy building ships for the last few decades," I observed.

"It was easy with all of the Wardens of Life giving us skilled engineers and the Solar Empire offering dumb labor or resources," she explained. "Now we're running on a bit of a clock."

"Yeah, we are," I said. "All our people on the Solar Empire's planets have evacuated right?"

"They just finished when you entered the galaxy," she confirmed.

"Good. Be sure to defend our planets," I told her as I entered my shuttle.

"You just be sure not to glass any of theirs," she said, turning to hers.

"I really hope it doesn't come to that," I muttered. I hated that term and the new definition it had been given, "glass." It refered to what happened when planets with a high amount of elements in the surface crust that were capable of crystalization when heated were bombarded. In other words, the surface would turn into a crude, glassy sand when hit repeatedly with explosives or rail cannon rounds. Almost no life would be left when that happened.

"We're not going to glass any of the surfaces, are we?" Sarah asked nervously.

"I can't make a promise to that," I told her, "but I can say that it is the last option we will ever consider. Surrender will come before it."

"Even if surrendering means that you lose everything you've built?" Carrie asked.

"Yes," I answered. "There's no point in claiming to protect them all if I'm just rendering their planets uninhabitable or close enough to it. At that point I don't want you to hesitate to relieve me of all command by any means neccessary. Do you understand me, Carrie?"

"I understand," she said quietly. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"That's all we can do," I said.

"Sir, we're approaching Eden," the Paladin said. "Shall I prepare the ship for combat?"

"Yes," I told him. "Franks, prepare to send a transmission offering the chance for surrender and send it to all cities across Eden with instructions to civilians to wait in their homes. We don't want any unneccessary casualties."

"Yes, sir," both Paldins responded before beginning to carry out my orders.

"I never cared to join you and Sarah when you did you little games," Carrie said, "means I've got no idea what's coming."

I could take the hint and explain it to her.

"We're going to engage any fleet that may be in orbit, dismantle it, and then send troops down to the planet to start taking the surface," I said. "It's the most basic plan, but it's also the only way to fight in this kind of combat. If we send troops to the planet while the fleet is still in orbit, they can hammer our landing zones or take pot shots at the shuttles. If we manage to get anyone to the ground, then we'll have to deal with the fact that they can be bombarded from orbit and removed without any trouble."

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"What about planetary defenses?" she asked. "That's been something that the Solar Empire worked hard on since the Scourge hit Earth. You know they've made strides in that field and they're not going to accept you taking worlds from them without trying to hit you back."

"Planetary defenses are easier to take out," I told her. "If there's a shield then you start firing at it until it falls and then you send shuttles or fighters to take out the key points like the emitters or the generators. Any surface-to-space missile batteries or rail cannons are targeted and removed by bombardment. The unfortunate problem is that with the distances that tend to be involved with this stuff, is that the planet's movement and the round's speed will affect things so badly that if you miss your target your hitting a residential zone or an industrial area. One of those is better than the other if the city has been evacuated but not in this case."

"So we're going to have to use shuttles to take out defensive guns," Carrie said. "You said it yourself, we're here to conquer them and put them under our official protection, not kill them all."

"That's why I have multiple starships that are nothing but hangars and housing," I told her. "It's going to take a lot of fighters and shuttles to cut through the anti-air fire that the defenses use, so we brought more than we guessed we'd need."

"By how much?" she asked.

"Nearly triple."

"Eden in sight," Franks said. "Jim, can you scan the planet for defensive guns?"

"Already on it," the other Paladin said.

"Showing the enemy fleet," Franks said. "Sending surrender offer."

The enemy's fleet appeared in holo and the ship count showed up beside it. I winced at the sight. The industrial might of the Solar Empire was something they were proud of and I could see why.

Nearly three hundred ships were arrayed in orbit, circling Eden and the moon that held a colony. Interspersed throughout the planetary orbit were massive defensive satellites that practically bristled with all sorts of weaponry.

"That's more ships than I expected," Carrie said.

"Same here," I said. "Good thing we came prepared for a beatdown."

As I spoke, my own fleet exited our FTL speeds and entered into formation around me. Nearly two thousand ships in total for this planet, many of them out-massing the Solar Empire's starships by nearly double.

"Franks why don't you open a comm line to the flagship out there?" I suggested. "Something tells me I can talk them into surrendering."

"Opening communication line," Franks said.

"I've got no response on long-range sensors," Jim said. "Does that mean that they don't even have a fleet or a portion waiting to attack us?"

"Guess not," I said.

"We're live, sir," Franks informed me as the opposing fleet's commander appeared in hologram before me.

"I am Admiral John Grahm," he said clearly with the authority of someone who was used to having others submit to him and his ego. "To whom am I speaking?"

"Demigod Rickshaw James, Chief Protector of the Deva Collective," I said, meeting his hologram's glare with an easy smile.

"James is gone," Grahm said. "Has been for nearly thirty years now. Could be dead for all we know. You're not him."

"Don't you have some sort of database with a picture in it?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. "Why would I say I'm me if, I wasn't me?"

"Intimidation," he answered, making a motion with his hand, probably telling someone to pull up the file the Solar Empire had on me. "You think that those empty ships are going to be enough to make me surrender and you think using the name of a dead man's enough to push me over the edge and submit without a fight."

"This is a first," I said turning to Carrie. "I never thought there would be someone dumb enough to say I wasn't who I said I was."

"This guy's clearly an idiot," she said.

"I can hear you," Grahm said. "Insulting me will not.... Oh shit."

"Something tells me he just got that file he wanted," Carrie said.

"So about that surrender we were discussing," I said. "Your starships will approach mine, one at a time, be boarded, and your bridges will be turned over to my people. After which, I will begin to move you and your people to that lovely moon colony where you will remain until better accomadations are found. The planet will come under the Deva Collective's control and the people will be well cared for until either the war ends or the Empire pushes us back to take Eden from us. Acceptable terms?"

"I accept the terms of my surrender," Grahm said quietly after a moment. "We will inform the planetary defenses to stand down."