Johann's face turned pale as the atomics were launched from the and embedded into the asteroid.

  "I

  suppose a massive jet of debris erupting from the asteroids they're

  hiding behind should serve as signal enough to Yosef and D'Larsen's

  fleet, don't you Johann?" remarked Vyncent.

  Johanns knuckles turned white, he said nothing, which told Vyncent enough.

  Vyncent's gaze lingered on Johann a moment longer beneath the gleam of his mask.

  "Fear is unbecoming of you, Johann" his voice lowered.

  Johann's

  mouth tightened but he kept still. The steady hum of the engine pulsed

  in the background, fusion engines charging, laser batteries cycling

  through simulated drills, the tactical display buzzing with sound of

  enemy contacts drawing nearer.

  Johanns jaw clenched, he spoke, "Sire it's not fear, merely the calculation of consequences"

  A

  hollow sound emerged from Vyncents mask, a chuckle Johann surmised.

  "And what consequence concerns you, Commodore? The destruction of the

  Baron's fleet or the blighted planet"

  Johann almost snapped before his upbringing reigned him in, "Your will

  ruin the planet for generations, the debris orbit will decay and the

  atmosphere will be filled with dust. Millions of lives lost for-"

  "Collateral damage"

  Johann was taken aback, "What did you say-"

  "Collateral

  damage, Commodore LeCoult!", Vyncent arose from his chair, "That planet

  below is insignificant. The lives on each ship you shred with the

  timely burst of laser fire are equally as innocent as the ones on the

  planet below, but you still tear through ships without hesitation as

  that is your duty; those are your orders. You are a soldier, Commodore;

  Act like it."

  "The ones on the ships, they know the risks..."

  "They

  are called by their liege lords, forced to fight their lords war; Torn

  from limb to limb as the ships spine is broken by a press of a trigger

  hundreds of thousands of miles away."

  The tactical display beeped, the Barons fleet was in firing range.

  The

  void between the two fleets was ignited in sudden, blinding light as

  twin beams of white hot laser fire erupted from their respective forward

  lines cutting across the vast distance with surgical precision.

  From

  the Baron's forward line, a battlegroup of around a dozen cruisers

  unleashed a simultaneous volley, thin beams of searing energy burning

  across empty space. The beams struck Vyncent's vanguard melting through

  titanium hulls. Armoured plating buckled and liquified under the heat,

  exposing the ship's internals, venting the atmosphere violently into

  space flash, freezing into beautiful crystals of ice and blood.

  Vyncent's

  fleet retaliated in kind; battleships in the centre of the formation

  returned fire with massive forward-mounted laser cannons, striking a

  Remiel cruiser at the heart of the line rupturing the portside engine

  array. The ship lurched sideways as internal explosions rocked the hull.

  "Maintain fire," ordered Vyncent, "Begin falling back!"

  The

  fleet began moving backward in short thrusts and the Baron kept on

  pushing forward trying to close the distance. The tactical display

  displayed an alert, the Baron had entered the debris field range.

  Vyncent gave the command.

  "Detonate"

  At

  once, the darkness was illuminated by the brilliance of a hundred suns

  as the atomic core turned critical, driving a chain reaction, the heat

  turned the zephyr particles stored in the mines into radical explosives

  seeping through the web of tunnels imploding them as it went, the chain

  reaction reached its peak in a hundredth of a second; thousands of

  pieces of rock steel and magma burst from within the asteroid and

  shredded through the barons field. A cruiser was struck in its spine and

  careened off course, colliding with a battleship and imploding them

  both. Many ships changed course to avoid the mess of rock bodies and

  magma disorganizing the fleets. A cruiser from the Baron's second line

  was struck by a shard of rock pricing its thrusters; losing power, it

  fell steadily into the planet's gravity well.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The

  open channel was crowded by screams and distress signals, prayers and

  pleas; Johann could do nothing but listen. Vyncent refused to shut off

  the channel.

  "You will remember each voice; this is the price of war," said he.

  Johann's hand trembled, he could not figure out why, fear? disgust? or could it just be insanity?

  The

  two fleets hidden behind the asteroids saw this as the time to strike

  and rapidly advanced to the Barons rear, within half an hour they began

  firing, the Baron completely encircled.

  The

  Remiel fleet began reorganizing themselves. On board the Jin-Wa the

  Baron rapidly hammered out orders to individual Battlegroups positioning

  them manually. A junior officer's hands hovered over his console,

  wide-eyed at the Baron's calm instructions; in barely 20 minutes, he had

  regrouped his fleet so that they began returning fire on all fronts

  effectively.

  "Battlegroup

  D- move to coordinates 24-39- alpha, Battlegroup I- Your strength is

  too low fall back to fleet centre, Cruiser group- F- replace Battlegroup

  I on the front line," the Baron methodically instructed the fleet.

  Soon,

  Yosef's line began rapidly deteriorating; battleships were taken out

  like flies as the Baron ordered his ships to concentrate fire on one

  ship at a time.

  the computer blared.

  A

  tremor ripped through the hull, throwing Yosef hard against his

  console. Sparks flared from an exposed conduit as the lights flickered.

  He wiped blood from his mouth and steadied himself.

  he muttered.

  The

  tactical display was a mess of blinking red lights — too much damage,

  too fast. Already a third of his ships were out of commission, and a

  quarter of those were total losses. He thought of his men gasping for

  breath as life support failed, of the wounded clawing at the sealed

  bulkheads as fire and vacuum consumed the lower decks. He imagined their

  voices on the open channel — prayers, screams, silence.

  He prayed Vyncent had a plan. He had to — because if this continued for another half hour, no ships would be left to save.

  On the the

  situation was not nearly as dire; it seemed like the Baron planned to

  make quick work of the small fleets on the rear while keeping his fleet

  at bay, thought Vyncent, then circle round to decimate his fleet. "This

  Baron is too clever for his own good," Vyncent grit his teeth.

  Vyncent raised his hand, ring finger bent.

  "Just wait and watch, Commodore."

  Johann

  opened his mouth to protest, but the ship suddenly surged beneath his

  feet. He was thrown backwards as the Hercules shot forward, its fusion

  drives roaring at maximum capacity.

  Dlarsen's eyes widened. He hesitated for a breathless moment. Then he relented.

  The

  imperial fleet followed, a spearhead plunging into the heart of the

  Baron's line. The Baron's forward cruisers twisted in confusion as the

  fleet closed the distance.

  Then the killing blow.

  Hundreds

  of micromissiles streaked from the Hercules. The first wave hit the

  nearest cruiser in a cascade of detonations — flashes of white and

  orange against the black. The ship staggered sideways, its burning hull

  carving into the next line. Then the second wave came.

  For a breathless second, the battlefield went still.

  And

  then it collapsed. The struck cruiser tumbled into its neighbor, their

  spines shearing apart as the internal reactors buckled and blew. A chain

  reaction erupted down the line — plasma blooms and collapsing

  bulkheads, ship after ship torn apart. Yosef was left astounded by the

  barbarity of this attack; taking advantage of the cramped battleground,

  Vyncent had ordered a charge into the Baron's lines, knowing he could

  not reposition them faster than Vyncent could destroy them; Yosef's

  breath caught in his throat as his flagship navigated the burning

  wreckage. The killing blow had landed - the Baron's line was collapsing.

  But something was wrong. His eyes swept the tactical display. The

  Hercules was gone.

  cross

  the imperial fleet, the comms were alive with frantic voices. Orders

  crossed and overlapped. Tactical displays blinked red.

  Then - the Jin-Wa's broadcast cut through the noise.

  The screen crackled, then resolved into a single image.

  Vyncent

  stood in the blood-slicked corridor of the Jin-Wa. His mask was

  scarred, a jagged line running down the side of his face. Blood dripped

  from the edge of his sword. He held the Baron by the collar -limp,

  broken.

  His hand tightened in Victor's coat. Slowly, he raised his head toward the camera.

  No one moved. No one spoke.

  Then — one by one — the enemy ships began to power down. Engines falling quiet.

  Vyncent relayed a message to his fleet.

  "Secure the enemy fleet," Vyncent raised the Barons head with the tip of his sword, Victor's eyes fluttered open.

  "For the emperor" whispered Vyncent.