[Sector 4 - Veridia Prime Orbit]
The green planet was bleeding. Thousands of bio-luminescent, jagged ships—the Grox Swarm—swirled around the planet like a hurricane of teeth and acid. Inside the planetary command center, Governor Sylas watched the shield integrity drop to 4%.
"Governor!" The Defense Commander yelled over the alarms. "A slipspace rupture detected! The mercenaries are here!"
A massive golden ring—the Bifrost Gate—tore open the fabric of space just outside the atmosphere. From the swirling blue vortex, ten black-and-gold Void-Cruisers emerged.
The Defense Commander stared at the screen. He blinked. "Ten? They sent ten cruisers? There are fifty thousand Swarm drones out there! We paid ten million credits for a suicide squad!"
Sylas buried his face in his hands. "We've been scammed."
[The Precursor Tech]
Aboard the lead Cruiser, Admiral Valerius cracked his knuckles. He was used to flying rusted, broken ships. But this new vessel, printed by User 006's Forge, hummed with a terrifying, ancient power.
"All ships," Valerius grinned. "Let's test the Boss's new toys. Divert power to the Golden-Ion cannons. Fire at will."
The ten cruisers didn't adopt a defensive formation. They charged straight into the center of the Swarm. The Swarm drones spat globs of corrosive bio-plasma, expecting to melt the cruisers' hulls. But the bio-plasma hit the black metal and simply... evaporated.
"Warning," The Cruiser's AI chirped. "Minor paint damage detected. Rerouting power to primary batteries."
The ten cruisers fired. They weren't normal lasers. They were thick, pulsating beams of golden Precursor energy. When a beam hit a Swarm drone, it didn't just explode; it chained to the next drone, and the next. A single shot cleared a path ten miles long through the enemy formation. In sixty seconds, thirty thousand drones were reduced to ash.
Down on Veridia Prime, the command center was dead silent. "By the Gods," the Defense Commander whispered. "What kind of cruisers are those?"
[The Hive Mother]
The Swarm reacted to the slaughter. From the depths of the asteroid belt, the Hive Mother emerged. It was a biological monstrosity the size of a moon, covered in glowing green pustules and massive tentacles. It let out a psychic screech that shattered the windows in Veridia's capital city.
"Admiral," Valerius's comms officer warned. "The Hive Mother is charging a bio-nuke. Our cruisers cannot pierce armor of that thickness. We need to retreat."
Valerius frowned. He opened a channel to The Forge. "High Command. We have a pest that is too big to step on. Requesting the Dreadnought."
[The Sniper]
[Sector 8 - The Forge]
Alex sat on his throne, watching the live feed of the battle. "The Dreadnought is too slow, Valerius," Alex said, checking his watch. "And I want to make a statement."
Alex looked out the window. The Rust Brotherhood had just fed a massive iron asteroid into the planet's maw. The Forge was overflowing with energy. And right outside the window, the Bifrost Gate was still open, perfectly linking Sector 8 to Sector 4.
"Dawn," Alex smiled. "The Forge has automated planetary defense cannons, correct?"
"Affirmative," Dawn replied. "The 'Wrath of the Maker' Railgun. It is designed to shoot down invading fleets."
"Don't shoot the sky," Alex ordered. "Aim the planetary cannon through the Bifrost Gate."
Dawn paused, calculating the physics. "Targeting... Lock acquired through the wormhole. Trajectory is clear."
"Governor Sylas," Alex opened the channel to Veridia Prime. "Consider this a free sample of our premium service."
Alex slammed his hand onto the red firing console. "Fire."
[The Shot]
On Veridia Prime, the Hive Mother opened its massive maw, preparing to glass the planet.
Suddenly, the Bifrost Gate expanded. A beam of solid, blinding white light shot out of the wormhole. It was the size of a city. It crossed the orbital space in a microsecond and struck the Hive Mother directly in the center of its mass.
There was no explosion. There was simply an erasure. The kinetic force of a planetary-scale railgun slug, traveling at Mach 500, vaporized the Hive Mother instantly. The shockwave scattered the remaining drones like leaves in a hurricane.
The sky above Veridia Prime was clear.
[The Commercial]
Alex didn't wait for Sylas to thank him. He ordered Dawn to take the footage of the shot—the cruisers dominating, the Hive Mother being erased—and broadcast it on every frequency of the Galactic News Network.
He added a simple caption in gold letters: [Pantheon Defense Solutions. War is our Business. And Business is Good.] [Contact us for your Planetary Subscription today.]
Alex leaned back in his chair. "Dawn, monitor the inbox. The Iron Bank wants 50 Million Credits by next week. Let's see how many planets want to buy survival."
[System Alert] [Incoming Transmissions: 4,192.]