The Empyrean hummed with power. Filled to almost max capacity with crew, she had never had so much power, Veins of golden light ran down the sides of her corridors, and spilled like blood through her walls. The bridge itself was also filled with light, but dimmed to a subtle ambience to match the atmosphere.

Adam stepped forward slowly, the floor below his feet glowing subtly with runoff power as he stepped up onto the captain's platform. As he did, a subtle flare of light rippled out from his feet and across the room..

"Open a comm line to the fleet." He said, and off to his right side, the communications specialist did as told. Within the next few minutes, small windows of light and color opened up on the massive windscreen before him, until he stood in front of a crowd, composed of people spread across the galaxy.

Eris, waiting behind on arcadia to take care of their people.

Martha: Interim director of the Arcadia intelligence Agency in Conn's absence

Admiral Simon, sitting aboard the Omen.

Admiral McCaster on his ship

Admiral Kozlov

Tala Kelly, President of earth

Donavan Red

Lord Avex

And a list of others that could have gone on for hours.

Multiple politicians, dignitaries, and state leaders, no less than a hundred military leaders, and others witnessing this exchange as a third party.

"This will be the final push." Adam said, standing straight back, alon on the Captain's platform. His hands rested lightly against the small of his back. The black of his uniform was dim in the overhead lights, but the ribbons and pins on his chest and collar glittered subtly, "Whatever happens, I wish you to know that it was an honor serving with and for you, all of you."

There was a muttering of agreement, spilling over the Empyrean's speakers like the distant roar of a vast sea.

"We have been given a general astronomical location for something Kazna and the void is called the necrotorium. We believe this is where they are harvesting Anima in order to create void power. Now though we know the general location, it may take days if not months to find it. When we do, coordinates will be sent back to the fleet." A fleet that would be one of the largest on record, comprised more than a thousand ships owned by half a dozen species or more.

A group surprisingly absent?

Rundi.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind at this point that the chairman of the galactic assembly was either dead or corrupted. Spies indicated moles planted in the highest echelons of other governments including the Terasaki, Groom and Iotins. No one was safe.

The only species unbothered by the void, were the non construct species like the Mikes and the Lumin.

The Tvek were all but lost.

Reports coming in from that sector of the galaxy were not good.

Adam hadn't realized their communication with the little aliens had been cut off some time ago, as most of their interaction had come through the GA.

If only they had moved faster.

The one person brave enough to go take a look, had found a planet swathed in red mist.

The guilt hung heavy on his shoulders, but he knew that this was no time to give in to such feelings. He had learned that lesson the hard way, and through years of mistakes and suffering.

He would not blame himself for lack of foresight.

"This will be the largest military undertaking ever seen, but you all know your roles. If there is any group of people who have a possibility of pulling this off, it is us. Collectively." He didn't want to say much more, he was tired of making speeches, listening to words even from himself.

Now was the time to act.

Below him, past the little holographic images projected on the view screen, he could see Arcadia, lit up in its newfound burning glory. Distant star just beginning to peak over the horizon. From here he could see her vast tracts of bare stony rock. She seemed so barren from up here, Noxumber and the surrounding land only a small inkblot of color just beginning to spread veins into the terraformed land beyond.

Clouds swirled over her surface in lazy undulating spirals.

kay , Nyx and Astra would probably be waking up soon.

He closed his eyes.

This was for them, no matter how long it took,and if it took long, he hoped that they would forgive him for what he had to do.

He took a step forward onto the platform and rose slowly into the air. Light and power diffused through his skin as he was elevated some fifteen feet above the platform, "Are we understood."

Another murmur of agreement.

This was not news to anyone.

THe logistics of such a task had been gone over again and again and again, the topic beaten until it was dead and then beaten some more. Nothing had been left up to chance. Adam maneuvered the ship out, towards the arcadia defense nexus.

"Good luck." He said, motioning to the comms specialist to cut communication.

The screen before him went blank.

With the twitch of his fingers, they continued forward, the Empyrean responding to his commands as if she was an extension of his own body.

They reached the edge of the defense nexus, which flared only once, an array of bright blue hexagons that appeared and disappeared in an ever expanding ripple from their point of exit. The shield was dropped only long enough to let them through before closing behind.

Nexus deep space turrets followed their progression, but did not fire on the familiar ship

"Prep the ship for-"

WARNING PROXIMITY ALERT

The Empyrean rocked violently the side.

The golden light on the floor ruptured into a dull, angry red.

Outside the windows, the Arcadian defense Nexus reacted rapidly, guns swiveling and firing in rapid succession.

re the hell is that coming from!" Adam demanded.

It was Sunny who answered.

Sitting at the weapons station she glared intently at her screen, hands held out to puppet the phantom weapons controls, "It's a ship, just appeared out of warp."

"Who."

The viewscreen lit up on one corner.

Adam knew the specs of that ship, like he knew the class and specifications of almost any ship that had ever been made.

A rundi political cruiser, outfitted with battle class weaponry.

"Someone's a snitch." he hissed under his breath.

Adam took control of the main cannons leaving the complexities of their other weapons systems to Sunny, as he rotated the Empyrean rapidly to face their opponent, making them a smaller target.

The rundi's shields flared with burning orange light as missile after missile poured onto her from the defense nexus.

She did not seem particularly phased.

Let's see how they liked the taste of Anima Energy.

The ship was moving fast, still doing it's best to avoid the bulk of the attacks being laid on it by the defense nexus, but he adjusted for movement, an action born out of years of flight combat training and intuition.

The cannons fired, a burst of bright Anima energy.

They may have had void shields, made of corrupted Anima, but this was still the Architect's own ship, so the smaller vessel was hardly a match for her power, and the shields flickered and dimmed.

"Lay it on them." Adam shouted.

Sunny did as told.

"We're being hailed." Comms shouted.

"Patch them in." Adam snarled, pulling the Empyrean to the left and spinning rapidly as the other vessel attempted to match the maneuver.

Big ships weren't fighter vessels, they weren't meant to move with speed or dexterity. Mostly they were meant to take damage until someone eventually imploded. Your average pilot was really just there to maneuver the ship into the best angle for firing on the opponent.

Any average pilot that is.

Adam shot forward with a well timed burst of speed that put them directly above their opponent, or under them, or to the side of them, it was all relative in the vacuum of space.

Sunny took that opportunity firing with their lower anima cannons, and following up with classic high explosive ordinance rounds.

The shields flickered, and in the time it took the energy to dim, the ordinance rounds, had just enough time to slip through the lowered shields. Both of them exploded on impact, rocking the ship back in its spot.

Why they thought they could win this fight was baffling to Adam.

An image appeared on the viewscreen before him, though his eyes were mostly focused on the task at hand. He could only allow himself a momentary lapse of judgment when he saw who sat at the helm of that ship. The Empyrean rocked again as a well timed bout of rounds landed on their shield,. Starbursts of golden light appeared around the zones of impact.

Adam cursed, "You!"

The charwoman of the galactic assembly looked at him with a measure of amusement on her alien face, "I'm sorry Admiral, but I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting."

Adam growled, "Don't bother with introductions, you won't be here long enough to give one."

"Is that so?"

And then the sky lit up around him with a thousand blue flashes, the telltale sign of an incoming warp.

And before he knew it.

He was facing an army.