UGT (Unified Galactic Time): 17th Revol (July) 280 a.G.A. (after Galactic Armistace) / 9:13 p.m.

  Location: KF Battlecruiser Kaiseradler, Schwarzfels system (red giant), (Outer-)Noran Principality, Kingdom of Ferron, Milky Way

  Admiral Johann von Kr?henfels had never believed the evacuation of multiple star systems like he had planned would be a clean affair. Of course he hadn't. While he had certainly hoped for it to go over smoothly, that would've simply been too optimistic. And he had been proven right in what some of his Captains had called pessimism.

  He couldn't blame them for their oversight. They were part of the military in the end. They ran the cold numbers and in the K?nigliche Flotte no one would ever settle for less than perfection. The civilians of Ferron, however, didn't hold themselves to the same standards. Backpacks, sentimentality and many other things had overall meant that Freighters that were supposed to easily handle everything had not been enough. Additionally, there had been a surprisingly big number of unregistered citizens on every planet that they hadn't accounted for in their plans.

  Looking around on the Bridge of his flagship, the KF Battlecruiser Kaiseradler, he could only shake his head in disappointment. In front of him on the main screen of the Bridge hung the evacuation charts, neat lines of convoy vectors crawling toward the hyperlane like ants burdened with too much to carry. And they were running incredibly late. And the worst of it was, he wasn't even surprised. Still, he would need to have a word with his father, the duke, about this lack of order at some point. "Status," he ordered without turning away from the charts.

  “Evacuation progress at 89% of projected capacity, Herr Admiral," his Lookout Officer replied. "Freighter turnaround times are degrading. Several civilian captains are refusing acceleration orders due to structural limits."

  Of course they were. Civilian ships were not built for this. They were not meant to be pushed to the edge of failure, loaded beyond comfort, crewed by frightened men, women and children who had never expected to be forced to outrun a warfleet. Admiral von Kr?henfels had known that when he issued the orders. He had simply hoped discipline and fear of the enemy would be enough. In the end, it unfortunately wasn’t.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, gaze fixed on the glowing symbol that represented the system they were abandoning. Another worthless rock in material terms. Another political liability in every other sense. In fact, except for his opening strike against the SHF fleet, the entire campaign hadn't really gone as he'd hoped. From the moment the Federation had breached Grenzmark–Heiligenwacht, Kr?henfels had understood the nature of the enemy he was facing. Not the SHF fleet as a whole, that was manageable, predictable, and not big enough to be much of a challenge. No, the true problem was still the FSF Aurora, that damn experimental Super Battleship the Federation had gotten from somewhere.

  And make no mistake that ship was suspiciously off. He did not know how, or why, but he knew it with the certainty of a professional recognizing an anomaly too consistent to dismiss. It moved too freely. It struck too precisely. And it survived encounters that should have crippled it. It should not, could not be an SHF ship. If that was the technology available to the SHF, they would've won the war already, there was no doubt about that. And that meant the AMU was either secretly supporting the SHF... Or they were facing a First Federation ship.

  Admiral von Kr?henfels barely suppressed a sigh, knowing he couldn't show doubt in front of his navy. In the end it didn't truly matter. He would ask when he got his hands on that suspiciously young 'Captain Lunaris' who supposedly commanded the Super Battleship. And he would get her, for he would make sure all secrets of that Super Battleship would land in Ferron's hands. But before that... He would have to deal with politics. Starting with the civilians.

  As loath as he was to admit it, he might have made a mistake trying to stave off the damage his image would suffer by losing systems. There was no way he could ever evacuate the Felsmark system in time. By now too much of his reputation was riding on defending that system. It would most likely end his military and political career should he have to retreat all the way to his own homeworld. Still, he was internally debating if it wasn't more prudent to ambush the SHF at a later point, still before they reached his homeworld but not in Felsmark.

  Again, he could only blame himself for his lack of foresight. This was his father’s principality. Had he just asked, his father would've kept more forces around instead of sending them to the main frontline with the SHF. But he had been too proud, believing no danger could come from the Inner-Noran sector. Now reinforcements were tickling in slower than expected, some noble houses without a doubt even hesitating to commit even more of their forces to the war effort, even in an emergency such as this one. Too many were waiting to see whether he, heir to the principality, would hold or break before being willing to pledge more support. As if any of that would still matter, should he actually lose.

  His jaw tightened. It was sure that the SHF would arrive before the last Freighters departed. For all he knew, maybe the SHF was already in the system. It would take a few hours for them to even find out after all. And that meant all these delays would lead to the SHF most likely finding out his fleet composition, even if they were unlikely to still catch up to them before they left. He could just leave now of course. Order the fleet to jump, abandon the last convoys to follow his fleet on their own. But that would kill his political image thoroughly, so he couldn't risk that. Not if he wanted to have any support left. "Any indication of SHF presence?" he asked.

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  "Negative, Herr Admiral," the Lookout Officer replied. "Long-range scans show no confirmed contacts. We shouldn't have to worry about the SHF just yet."

  Admiral von Kr?henfels nodded once. "The civilian Freighters retain priority. Our fleet remains on immediate jump readiness."

  "As you wish, Herr Admiral," was the only reply he got. The minutes continued to crawl by while the Freighters slowly moved towards the hyperlane entry point. In his boredom, Admiral von Kr?henfels instantly noticed when the head of his Lookout Officer suddenly snapped up.

  "Herr Admiral!" he announced, voice tightening despite himself. "We have some anomalous readings on the sensor."

  The Admiral's head shot towards his Lookout Officer instantly. "Clarify," he ordered.

  "We are detecting multiple localized subspace distortions. They are inconsistent with standard Federation fleet entries. Not that they should be able to leave normal space inside a system anyways."

  Admiral von Kr?henfels felt the color drain from his face. "How close are these readings!?"

  Before the Lookout Officer had a chance to answer they all saw it on the main display of the Bridge. One moment there was empty space next to the civilian Freighters and evacuation craft. The next, a vast, impossible hull occupied that space, its emergence so abrupt that several sensor arrays lagged behind reality. The FSF Aurora had just left hyperspace without a hyperlane and deep within the gravitational shadow of a star. That should be impossible!

  "Signal all units!" Admiral von Kr?henfels barked. "Defensive posture! Civilian convoy shields to maximum! Fleet-!"

  The FSF Aurora fired before he could finish. Six of these strange beams they had already seen speared out into the closest evacuation craft, including one of the Freighters. Upon hit, its hull simply dissolved. Their engines simply vanished, telltale signs of an overloading reactor followed, and the Freighter popped open in a massive explosion. It had not managed to get its shields up in time.

  The FSF Aurora fired once more, taking out more smaller evacuation craft while once more targeting one of the Freighters in range. This one managed to get its shields up in time to catch the unknown beam but it didn't matter long before that area of the shields also simply... dissolved. Still, while the beam speared through the entire length of the Freighter it didn't instantly explode. A follow-up shot from the FSF Aurora with what looked suspiciously like a Railgun projectile easily punched through the Freighter's shields and into the ship itself, where it exploded. Once more nothing but debris remained.

  Meanwhile panic rippled throughout the convoy like a live wire. Civilian Captains broke formation, emergency thrusters flared in hopes of somehow getting away from the Super Battleship that had apparently lost all reason. Distress calls flooded every channel, overlapping, incoherent and desperate. Onboard the military vessels it wasn't much better. Even on his own Bridge he had shocked outcries.

  "My God-!"

  "They’re firing on civilians!"

  "Has the Federation gone truly insane!?"

  Admiral von Kr?henfels felt something cold and heavy settle in his chest. The Federation had done what he'd feared. Or rather, Captain Lunaris had. He already had a strong hunch that what was most likely a First Federation ship and crew not under the control of the SHF would not think much of the galactic war conventions. He'd been proven correct in a horrible way.

  The realization hit him with brutal clarity. The FSF Aurora was deliberately taking her sweet time taking down the civilian ships, starting with the ones closest to safety. She fully knew none of them would get away if his fleet didn't leave the hyperlane entry point to engage the FSF Aurora. But seeing how the Super Battleship was already in the system, the SHF fleet couldn't be far. They wanted to force him into an engagement. One that he would without a doubt lose, for it was not one fought with his preparations, nor would it be on his terms.

  The other option was abandoning the already doomed civilians. But if he did so to save his own hide, the image he had so carefully constructed would collapse in a single, catastrophic moment. He would not be the protector who had tried his best. He would be the Admiral who fled while his people died. The knowledge would get out, and everyone would see it. Every rival would know it. His reputation would be stained for years, if not decades. Captain Lunaris knew exactly what she was doing!

  "Hail the FSF Aurora! There must be something we can do to stop her from slaughtering innocent civilians!" he ordered but his CN just shook his head.

  "I'm sorry for overstepping, but I already tried that, Herr Admiral! No reaction! The FSF Aurora is ignoring us! What are your orders?"

  Admiral von Kr?henfels gritted his teeth. He looked at the tactical display, at the impossible Super Battleship carving through civilian refugees with surgical precision, not bothered in the least by the war crimes they were committing. He had been given exactly two choices.

  He could engage the FSF Aurora by pulling his fleet out of the hyperlane entry zone. He would need to hope he was capable of destroying or at least heavily damaging the FSF Aurora before the SHF fleet caught up. He would play against time.

  Or he could leave, abandoning the civilians to their fate. It would preserve his fleet but mean a political wound that would most likely fester. Either way he would have to make his stand in the Felsmark system, knowing that should he fail to protect it, 116 million locals and over 40 million refugees would be at the mercy of these lunatics who stomped over the galactic war convention like it didn't exist! Either way, there would be no more retreating. His conscience wouldn't see him risk the lives of over 150 million of his own people.

  Johann von Kr?henfels closed his eyes for half a second. Then he opened them. "All combat units," he said, voice steady once more, "enter hyperspace. We cannot win this battle. But I promise every single one of you, when the SHF pushes into the Felsmark system we will make them pay."

  He heard the gasps all across his Bridge, but he ignored them. The war had just changed. The moment the K?nigliche Admiralit?t heard of this, the galactic war convention would cease to matter. And the cost of appearances had finally come due, for both sides.

  "Captain Lunaris," he muttered with contempt and rage. "I promise you, for what you have done today you will pay."

  He would carry the weight of his decision to abandon his people for the remainder of his life, and he would continue to hate himself for it every day, even if it was strategically speaking the right thing to do. For Captain Lunaris... Well, he would make sure she wouldn't have much time left to regret her decisions.