Warnings blare across the fleet as multiple sensors pick up the Kingdom ship that had just appeared in a cloud of radiation. The normal observation probes that had been deployed all across the system were being made useless by the FTL methods of the Kingdom. A single ship, miles long, appeared from nothing with only a split second of warning before it appeared. A small flare of radiation, and then a ship. The targeting and sensory computers on the various military vessels are overwhelmed for a few seconds as every probe sends a proximity warning, and someone has forgotten to remove the ship classification warning from the probes.

  This resulted in the more simplistic systems not being overseen by smart AI, having a ship of the largest dreadnought or aircraft carrier classification, if not bigger, appear out of nowhere, well within the immediate sensory area of the highly refined zone of early warning probes. Although this is normal for any Eternal Kingdom vessel appearing on sensors, this is the first one to appear since the finalization of the early warning probe grid, and it was not designed for ships that can simply ignore things like planetary gravity wells and traditional understandings of physics, but the situation is resolved through a mix of the onboard AI of the many vessels as well as quick acknowledgment button presses by the crew in charge of the sensory systems.

  The ship sits above the world, which now contains hundreds of human non-combatants, not just the locals. There is no worry about an invasion because the entirety of the 47th engineers are planetside doing relief work or otherwise are building infrastructure that can be useful in future planetside operations. Current understandings of the Eternal Kingdom's ground forces don't spark any fear from any American forces due to their more primitive weaponry and overreliance on single-point units referred to as "mages," meaning ranged combat is in favor of the humans once a single target is identified and neutralized through whatever means are available.

  The current worry is if the ship begins to orbitally bombard the planet, while neutralizing the ship is very simple, and every weapon had a firing solution planned within microseconds of it appearing on sensors, there are still rules of engagement, and that delay can result in dozens of deaths as the kingdom ship does have a rather large number of weapons that have been proven to be devastating when fired all at once.

  Then there is the final problem. The Rear Admiral is not in the system at the moment; he had gone out with the hunting detachment, and even though the distance isn't very far compared to FTL communication with home, that means nothing when it comes to FTL communication. Be it a thousand light years or five feet away, the method takes the same amount of time. Even using single-word code, or utilizing the Quantum Entanglement to do Morse code, it will still take over an hour to send anything, and his response would take time, so the immediate decision falls to one person: Shariah.

  While the younger Hollander is a standard military officer, he is Army, and his understanding of how the Navy works is very narrow at best. The only other higher-ranked Naval officer would've been Le'Blanc, but she is currently working with the Rear Admiral. After that, it would be a seniority argument on who should make the call. Despite technically no longer being part of the Military aspects of this mission and the grander operation, her role was reactivated by the Rear Admiral as his second in command. This was entirely because the Rear Admiral had gotten frustrated with the bickering between his senior ship captains and the commanding officers of the Army attachment, so Shariah, a third party, was left in charge, and she had a hard decision to make.

  Shariah finds herself at a crossroads. Her main goal is to try and work toward peace and cooperation with the Eternal Kingdom, and morally, she still seeks this. She also understands the danger of the situation and knows the consequences of inaction, especially after seeing what the Eternal Kingdom is willing to do to their own people. The problem is that the ship orbiting the planet hasn't acted in any aggressive manner, instead seemingly just observing nearby space, but that can change in an instant, plus due to the orbital positions of all warships means any defensive attack will take precious moments to reach the target, some even being full minutes before they reach the target. As a side note, Shariah notes that there may need to be some changes to methodology when it comes to fighting the Eternal Kingdom, or overall dealing with them, since conventional tactics and methods may be lacking in some departments against these aliens.

  The biggest problem is that space battles are fought through milliseconds, micrometers, and thousandths of degrees, each of which can decide whether a fight is won or lost, and naval officers train for years to think on this minuscule scale, and Shariah is not....

  "I think we messed up on our jump... this planet is one that was declared dead."

  The first mate of the royal ship of the line, She Who Strikes Over the Horizon For the Further Glory of His Holy Majesty, says to his captain. The old man sits on his command throne and stares at the planet below. He can see green as clear as day, so why is this planet considered dead? Was it those humans or whatever? Those strange beings that were declared demonic? He doesn't know, nor does he care. His vessel was supposed to be transporting important weapon shipments for the same inquisitor that is causing such a fuss in this part of the kingdom... but there is no way he is over one of the human-controlled worlds... right?

  There are no signs of any vessel hanging around and there are a few hunks of floating debris with some magical signatures, but there is no way this is a human planet... from reports that came after the Inquisitor declared them demons it was said humans scour planets all the way to the bedrock leaving not a single living thing on the world below. Ravenous and hungry for good, His Majesty fearing royal citizens. This doesn't look like that description at all. Instead, it looks a little underpopulated but is clearly a world that has a token population and has yet to have a noble put in charge.

  Right now, he can't decide if he should try to make a profit by potentially enslaving some primitive locals, or just leave this useless place to finish his tasked job. It's a hard decision because an early delivery would probably get him an equal amount of pay for some primitive slaves... It's strange to him, though, since there are signs of civilization... royal civilization below, but nothing major, just patches of what looks to be ruined buildings, but they seem to be actively crumbling when looked at through ground inspection lenses... something isn't right... he goes to turn toward his first mate only for his vision to be filled with brilliant light. The shield surrounding his vessel lights up brilliantly as something just outside of it bathes it in some form of incredible power. The way the shields are flaring reminds him of his younger years when he sailed too close to the sun, the incredible heat and mana pushing the shields to their absolute limit. Then one of his crew members says,

  "M'lord! We have a communication stream trying to link to us... It's different than normal."

  As the shields go back to normal with the explosion of power gone in a mere instant, he opens the stream, and a garbled and harsh voice commands through the speaker,

  "Halt. Turn back or be destroyed. This system is under the protection of the United States of America. Return to where you came, or be fired upon again! That was your one and only warning!"

  The captain sits there confused, wondering what the United States of America is... he hasn't heard of that. He knows those humans or whatever may be lurking, but no one ever said they would identify themselves as something else... or give warning. So he just assumes this is some pocket empire that had a border skirmish with an explorer vessel. This isn't unheard of, some cocky explorer tries to conquer an upstart stellar empire, but a little bit of Royal force is usually enough to make them bend the knee. However, that explosion does have him worried. He hasn't seen a weapon like that, and it's usually safer to assume the enemy can always fire a second time... a lesson his father had instilled in him since birth. The biggest problem is that whoever fired at them is seemingly invisible to all forms of detection. No one saw where that attack came from or even what the attack was. They have just been sitting above the world for half an hour now... so that means the invisible opponent had time to position itself somehow... It's really strange, though, because all naval captains should know a battle in space is determined by the initial seconds... so maybe they are that primitive that they needed to line up a perfect shot.

  Since the line is cut, he can't respond to the threat, but he also knows better than to posture aggressively. Maybe this was a misunderstanding, and a far more reasonable captain, such as himself, would be better for the job. Even if these unknown assailants are humans, he is certain he could talk some sense into them. In his 4 thousand year lifetime, he has heard of no less than six groups being declared demonic or demons, all of them were just slightly harder to deal with, minor nations, or were people with cultures that easily won out against the accepted Royal culture. With the faith surrounding His Majesty, those declared demons were easily beaten and later forgotten about. The captain's own species, the glorious race of dragons, were considered such when the Eternal Kingdom had first begun expanding across the stars, but that is long forgotten. With age comes wisdom and patience, maybe humans are like their own kind, incredibly strong and strong-willed, something a very overzealous inquisitor would call Demonic in the event they got their pride hurt. The captain then orders,

  "Stand down, everyone, and turn toward the void so they don't think we are about to broadside them. Let's see if we can offer peace rather than war. I am sure these hidden foes are just worried since we seemingly have aimed in the direction of their hidden ships!"

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  The large vessel rotates in space, its broadside now facing the planet below. The Captain then says,

  "Activate all broadside signalling lights and bring full power to our communications. I want them to see we are powering up in a sense of peace and cooperation."

  The various magical systems peak along the broadsides of the ship as they try to find any vessel to connect to. This continues for a few minutes until the captain, now frustrated, says,

  "I guess they ran away after thinking we were actually aggressing. Our magical presence must've made them rethink attacking. Alright! Power everything do-"

  The shield once more comes to life for a split second. A brilliant rainbow of mana crashing against mana and then the bubble of protection around the ship "pops" immediately decompressing the entire vessel. The crewmates on the exterior of the ship are ripped into the void by the sudden lack of atmosphere. The captain has less than an instant to understand as his whole world disappears in the fires of a 2.5MT warhead...

  "Ma'am, we have confirmed destruction of the enemy vessel. It appears we got them before they finished charging up their main broadside weaponry."

  Shariah let out the breath she had been holding while the two missiles flew. The minutes it took them to travel were the longest of her life, especially after the ship had faced the planet broadside right above the ongoing relief efforts. Shariah feels as if she only has herself to blame for how bad the situation almost got. She had called a meeting among all the naval captains, which took almost half an hour before a decision was made. Luckily, the Kingdom forces were seemingly confused by there being life on the planet... or something like that.

  Shariah returns to her room feeling sick to her stomach. This is the first time in her entire military career she has been directly responsible for death, and the pressure of it all is getting to her quickly. She thinks to herself,

  "If this is what Rear Admiral Hollander always feels... no wonder he drinks..."

  Inquisitor Flavian watches as the wooden skyship docks at the grand palace of his retreat. He can't help but smile, seeing as his call for a little extra help for some extra security was heeded by someone very interesting... but someone who definitely makes sense for the job.

  From the gangplank of the ship walks a woman clad in ornate armor crafted by some of the best blacksmiths from the core regions of the Eternal Kingdom. Each stride is calculated and careful, like a predatory animal stalking along its patrol of its territory, always ready to pounce in either defense or out of convenient hunger.

  The woman, her face locked in a perpetual look of disdain and hate, scans the room. Her features the Inquisitor would consider beautiful if only she were to soften her expression, but knowing her past, he thinks the look suits her... he would wear the same if he were her. Her face marked with a few tasteful scars goes well with the bluish stripes that mark her race...

  The Flashing Blade Unlanded Archduchess Psilta Contall Hektos, daughter of the rebel archduke and the one who managed through her own loyalty and skill to regain her promised position. She had to go through the hell that is court politics and survive what is likely dozens, if not hundreds, of assassination attempts, all to reclaim her lost right to the title of Archduchess after her father and wayward sister betrayed their Kingdom and god. Flavian actually likes the girl, not in some hedonistic or lustful way, although there is a certain charm about her; he likes her absolute stalwart devotion to the crown. It seemingly even eclipses his own as she is willing to go such lengths to prove herself pious and loyal despite never seeing His Majesty before, to be that faithful despite having never seen your icon of worship? That impresses Flavian, who, deep in his mind, admits he may at times not have been the most faithful to the crown at times... but Psilta... she seemingly never had a thought questioning the teachings of His Majesty, that is why she was able to not just survive, but reclaim all of her lost glories... although she did lose all of her property claims due to court politics, but she'll get them back eventually, Flavian knows this, because that is his offer for her services.

  The woman approaches and genuflects to the Inquisitor, who immediately tells her,

  "Stand up, Archduchess, we have much to discuss. Your show of devotion is not needed during these... pressing times."

  She remains there a second more, impressing Flavian at her deep devotion to properly showing respect to one's betters. She follows him silently as he walks into the palace and straight into a nice meeting lounge where refreshments are already waiting for them both. He takes his seat, and she quickly bows before taking hers across from him, setting her thin-bladed sword to the side of the chair. Flavian explains the situation to her, mostly pointing out that the demons are on a warpath, most likely hunting him down since he is the holiest icon in the region. Once the context is there, the woman asks,

  "Tell me what I should expect to fight against. I wish to be absolutely prepared."

  The Inquisitor quickly casts a spell that forms a misty screen that shows the details of his engagement with the humans, and he explains,

  "While I know little of space combat, I know fully well that the humans have weaponry there that we cannot counter at our current state, but I have requested the Royal Shipyard to produce new vessels based on the information I gathered on the humans, which may be a while.

  The most important thing for you is this: the humans are strange, but as they are demons, I understand them better than most. Demons prefer subterfuge and causing the most terror and suffering they can. This means they won't arrive and just start destroying everything after a space battle, instead they will target areas that will cause the most panic and without a doubt will deploy their war golems... or possibly some sort of monster they encased in steel. Regardless, the humans themselves don't seem to ever fight on the ground, standard cowardly actions taken by demons. Letting their underlings do the hard work."

  He makes an image of one of the human monsters appear on screen, and the woman does raise an eyebrow at the image. The Inquisitor continues,

  "These things are incredibly fast and strong. They rarely seem to run; instead, they bound in great leaps, closing the distance of a long hallway in a second. This is so they may use their terrible strength. I have watched them rip apart stone walls with their bare hands, and I need not tell you what that same strength did to the guards and knights. I do not know how tough they are, but considering their weight and willingness to get close to their prey makes me believe they are considerably durable. The part that worries me the most is how quiet they are able to be. Their armor does not squeal or clank as they move, their steps when not bounding quickly are nearly silent despite their clearly heavy weight. I watched stone tiles shatter under their metal feet, but at the same time, I have heard stories from survivors that they can move in silence when they wish.

  If this were all, I would have had this situation solved already, but they also utilize strange weapons that allow them to fight at range. They are not bows, and they are not magical,l but they crack like thunder, and in the next instant, their target is turned into viscera by an unknown force impacting them. In post-combat investigations, we found holes in walls behind slain knights and found fragments of metal in there, so we have deduced that they accelerate metal at incredible speeds to strike their foes. This means they fight like a non-magical version of the Royal Bowmen, who can produce the same effect, except these human ones can fire very rapidly. I do not know how fast because they seemingly only fired one at a time with perfect precision, but there was an incident listed when one of their incredibly small ships, as we believe it to be now, was able to fire this weapon so quickly it sounded like the roar of some great beast."

  He shows a quick clip of the moment the dropship had provided close air support for the marines and how quickly it was able to dispatch all the knights gathered, leaving nothing but a pile of bloody and twisted metal. The woman frowns, and she asks,

  "I've heard they were the ones to devastate my traitorous father and his legion of damned goons. Is this how they did it? With these monsters and that... ships weapon?"

  The Inquisitor grimaces before responding,

  "No... no one knows exactly how they managed to do that. Most bodies found had similar wounds to those of the knights depicted here, but instead of being shredded in a hail of fire, they seemingly had been blown apart by single shots... your father was... obliterated by a much larger weapon, but it was smaller than the weapons on their starships as we have proof their starship weapons are considerably stronger than what slew your father."

  She points at the vision in the mist just as the larger weapon fires from the ship and blows apart a stone wall and all those behind it. She asks,

  "That one?"

  The Inquisitor shakes his head, responding,

  "No, that one, while devastating, wouldn't do the damage seen. Your father wasn't in his armor anymore when we checked. This means the humans have access to weapons of a very broad spectrum of capabilities. This means working around them may be tricky in an actual fight."

  The woman thinks before asking,

  "Tell me, if these humans are our enemies, then why did they obliterate the traitors?"

  The Inquisitor answers,

  "From what I understand, that is because the humans were both feeling us out and wanted to gauge our strength, and also their one major flaw."

  The woman nods for him to continue, and he answers,

  "It is the only honorable thing the humans have, and that is that they are very loyal to one another and always make sure all of their own make it home... when possible. They seemingly wish to avoid any losses, which is reasonable, but they go to an unreasonable level. When I captured their vanguard, which was masquerading as a group of ambassador,s they went out of their way to rescue them first and foremost before they began their slaughter. I thank the King for this, but when I ordered their ship destroyed, this is the only time I saw them strike so openly and directly. Focusing on overwhelming firepower rather than sneaky attacks. I am lucky that I wasn't on my personal vessel at the time,e as it was shattered in mere moments.

  So I believe if we are able to threaten them in a combat situation, we may be able to push them back and reconsider, which will give us time to properly destroy the demons."

  The woman doesn't respond for a while as she watches the memories of slain knights. She carefully picks apart how the human monsters move and fight before she says,

  "I can easily take care of those monsters in solo combat, but I will need forces to help me isolate one at a time. They work in packs, which is difficult, but I can easily see that these things are weary when it comes to competent fighters. I am happy to join you inquisitor... and I am happy I may finally have a worthy challenge to test my skills on."

  The Inquisitor can't help but feel a little uneasy at the wicked smile the woman is making, an expression that doesn't suit such a pretty face. She then says,

  "Oh, I will enjoy this... since you humans took away my chance to slay the traitor..."