Ravens of Eternity

413 Killers & Survivors, Pt Orsethii stood on the bridge of her cruiser and watched the destruction that unfolded all around her. Her fleet took apart the Corvus Republic as best they could. And despite the fact that the Republic wasn’t fighting back, it was taking them far too long to actually dismantle them.

A deep unsettling thought spread through her officers, one that gave some of them pause during their unrelenting attack.

Except Orsethii. She found herself angered more and more knowing that the Republic refused to fight back. Worse, that they weathered her own attacks gracefully.

She practically ignored their request for parley, though ultimately the connection was forced on her. A number of the First Feathers appeared on the wraparound screen and as holoprojections around the bridge without any approval from Orsethii whatsoever.

Their appearance shocked the dreadmother greatly.

One of them walked right in front of Orsethii – a slight woman, but whose shoulders were square and her chin high.

“I’m First Feather Tysen,” said Claire. “Operations Officer for the Corvus Republic. Cease your weapons fire this instant! We are a noncombat fleet performing sanctioned rescue operations in Imperial space!”

“Don’t make me laugh,” Orsethii rebutted. “Your fleet is armed to the teeth! If our numbers were even, yours would easily give mine a run for our gold.”

“Even if that’s true, we haven’t. In fact, we haven’t even fired a single shot in our defense!”

.....

“Hah, and somehow you think that’s enough for me to stop firing? Our nations are at war, small one. My honor as an Imperial warrior compels me to wreck every enemy in my way!”

“Are you honestly trying to tell us that attacking ships that are surrendering to you is honorable?” spat Kali. “That hardly sounds like something worthy of praise and prestige.”

Orsethii’s anger rose more as Kali prodded her. To her, war was an indiscriminate killer. It had no reason to care who was a soldier or who was a civilian – all that mattered was the battlefield and those who survived it.

More than that, she found some hypocrisy in what Kali said.

“Tell that to your Ra’ventrii!” she blurted out. “She’s the one who’s been indiscriminately killing my people! My blood! Spilled and wasted across systems. If she can wipe away tens of billions of lives, then so can I!”

“Ah, I see, so it’s a contest between you two, then,” Kali rebutted. “Which of you can kill the most people. And I suppose there’s gonna be a crown at the end, to see who’s more monstrous. I see now. That must be that drogar honor you’ve been talking about.”

Before Orsethii could get enraged at Kali’s continued provocations, Azrael appeared on the wraparound screen as well. She clutched at her bloody chest, which closed up and healed itself even as she spoke.

Behind her, the fighting had all but ceased, and numerous civilians and Republic CDF were lined up on their knees under Imperial guns.

“Kali, please,” she pleaded. “There’s no need to add more to the fire.”

Kali pursed her mouth, but otherwise conceded to her partner. She was always too hot headed for diplomacy anyway, and easily gave the floor to Azrael instead.

“We have told Freya,” Azrael then spoke to Orsethii. “Or at least, we’ve tried to. She hasn’t heard us, or maybe doesn’t want to. Or maybe something’s compelling her to do what she’s doing. All I know is that all that death and destruction... that isn’t her. And the only thing we can do is help anyone still left alive.”

Orsethii growled at Azrael’s words. But seeing the woman and hearing her speak cut through whatever hard walls that were around her. Despite the battle lust that had taken hold of her, her blood slowly cooled.

And so the dreadmother softened, ever so slightly.

After a hesitant grunt, she made a gesture to her officers. In turn they spun around and issued the mass order to cease hostilities. It only took seconds for any continuing attacks to stop altogether.

Not that it stopped the Imperial ships from circling and flanking their prey, of course.

Claire sighed audibly, along with a few other First Feathers.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You humans are too weak and too soft,” Orsethii replied. “You should’ve fought me back until there was nothing left to fight with. That would’ve made my chase much easier. But this... this works too.”

“What in the hells are you talking about?” Kali blurted out. “If you want to stop Ra’ventrii, then go after her! You can smash yourselves against her guns instead!”

“Kali!” Azrael protested.

“No, I need to hear this!”

“It’s because she wanted to lure Freya in rather than keep chasing her down, am I right?” interjected Aurora. “Better to ambush than to assault.”

Orsethii grunted in approval.

“Your wartime officer is right,” she replied. “Killing you all would have driven Ra’ventrii to me. Into my waiting arms. We’ve been chasing her Einherjar for the better part of five years, and have never gotten remotely close to attacking her. This was our only gamble to even the odds.”

“I don’t think it would’ve been that simple,” Azrael countered.

“Maybe. Most likely we would have burned each other out in the process. But that’s just fine with me. There’s a human saying I like – fight fire with fire.”

“Well, that might sound wise at first, until you think about it more, and realize that everything between gets burnt to a crisp.”

“Like it or not, that’s the price of war,” Orsethii sneered. “In any case, now that you’ve surrendered to me, it’s time to snare in Ra’ventrii, yes? I still have a trap to set.”

The drogar bared her teeth with such a predatory ferocity that it made many around her flinch at the sight. Even a few of her own officers were cowed by it.

“Broadcast an emergency alert,” she continued. “Create a teleport beacon if you need to. Bring Ra’ventrii to me. And in exchange I won’t slaughter every last of you.”

Orsethii’s demand was met with a long silence. The First Feathers simply didn’t know how to respond to it.

All of them loved Freya, and giving her up like that felt like too large a betrayal. Even if she had become a wholly different person altogether. But would they all risk dying for her?

The choice lay heavy on many of their hearts and minds.

Eventually, it was Raijin who broke the silence.

“I believe we should send the alert,” she said. “And we can send it only to her, so we do not attract any other daring rescuers into an ambush.”

“What? Do you realize what you’re saying?” Claire protested. “You’re her best friend! And you’d lure her here so she can get killed?”

“How else do you intend to stop her? Or do we intend to let her keep killing people until the end of time?”

“You should listen to your friend,” Orsethii added. “I’ll stop Ra’ventrii, or die trying.”

Azrael pressed her lips hard. She knew none wanted to give Freya up, nor did they want her to continue kher campaign of destruction. One person’s life couldn’t possibly weigh the same as billions of others. And yet somehow, this was a choice that felt like it.

It dawned on her that it was a decision that would definitely haunt them the rest of their lives, regardless of which way they chose.

“I think our only real choice is to do it,” she said eventually. Her voice trembled, as though her own words didn’t want to come out of her mouth. “But I don’t think it’s going to go the way you want it to.”

“We’ll see,” Orsethii said. “I’ll move my fleet into position. Then you may emit your beacon.”

“And the civilians down here?” Azrael pressed. “Can we continue our rescue operations?”

Orsethii harrumphed.

“Like I said, you’re all weak,” she replied. “However, you may continue. Ground operations only. And under guard, of course.”

~

Part of the Einherjar fleet pummeled an Imperial station in high orbit above a lush green planet. The massive guns on their battleships literally tore the station’s exterior plating open with ease, and chewed deep into its innards.

Entire decks were swallowed bit by bit as plasma lances raked across them. Flooring and walls and machines and devices and drones and supplies and crew were all torn into atoms all throughout the lengthy attack.

Not only that, but the fleet tore into the various defensive turrets and emplacements all around the station as well. Charged rail shots slammed into them with incredible force and completely obliterated their chitinous armor. Plus everything inside them.

While they tore apart the orbital station, yet another part of the Einherjar fleet tangled with the planet’s defensive fleet nearby.

Their battleships and cruisers and destroyers all clashed against each other, while their frigates and fighters and mecha skirmished violently all around them. The wreckages of dozens of ships hung in space all around them, a testament to their mutual lethality.

Some of those wrecks were pulled down into the planet’s atmosphere, where they broke apart and burned up as they fell.

In the middle of the warring fleets was the planet’s teleport beacon. It too had been ripped open and completely disabled, with many of its internal parts strewn about all around it.

But that didn’t stop a squadron of Einherjar mecha from hammering it with their guns over and over. They shaved off more and more with every hit and pounded it with such persistence that it was reduced to unrecognizable chunks of scrap.

Overseeing all of the destruction was yet a third portion of the fleet, with Thanatos front and center.

Deep inside the imposing devastator’s bridge was Freya, who was sitting samurai-style, as always. Her eyes were closed, as though she was in deep meditation. In fact, she was deeply connected to her ship, and carefully observed the battles around her.

Raw data spilled into her mind through every sensor, which she filtered through with the help of Thanatos’s operational core.

Everything she saw pleased her greatly, as though every casualty they added to the tally was some kind of high score. She found there was a kind of pleasure to the growing number. It felt fulfilling in a way, as though all their efforts were summed up by it.

Happy with their fleet’s progress, she opened up comms to the rest of her fleet.

“Vanguard fleet, disengage and prepare for descent,” she barked. “Rearguard, finish up the Imperials, then assist with cleaning up the orbital station. I want it purged. Thoroughly.”

But before she could move Thanatos and her fleet down towards the planet’s green surface, an emergency alert rang in her mind.

–

INCOMING

Emergency Request – Fleet Under Attack: Corvus Republic

Classification Omega-Tau

–

Freya’s eyes flashed open on witnessing the alert. Something inside her roiled and stirred. What it was, she couldn’t tell. All she knew was that she didn’t like it, even though she did her best to push it away.

In front of her was the Imperium, which practically called for its own ruin.

But the more she suppressed the message, the more a piercing feeling grew in her chest. It got to the point where it became nearly unbearable, and she cried out in the dark loneliness of Thanatos’ bridge.

Amarok padded over to her side, then leaned on her with her large, heavy, furry body. The distraught that Freya felt ebbed as Amarok’s warmth filled her. Just being there calmed her, and cooled her.

And more importantly, made her hesitate.

It was long enough that memories of a life long gone spilled into her soul, which echoed out through Thanatos as well.

.....

A deep longing struck her with such a force that it stopped time, if only for a moment.

“Belay that order!” Freya immediately commanded. “All fleets gather on me and prepare for an emergency port!”