Chapter 31: The Gathering Storm

War waited for no one.

The morning after my night with Ny’Vara, I found myself standing on the command deck of the G’Tarok, staring at the glowing tactical display hovering over the war table. The moment of peace was over.

The Eternal Ones had begun their march across the sector. Reports were coming in from our scouts—entire planets razed, fleets vanishing without a trace, civilizations falling before we could even reach them.

But now, we had a chance to strike back.

Our fleet—composed of the last remnants of the Narn Empire, a coalition of Kha’reli warships, and a few rogue Centauri defectors—was assembling in the dead space beyond Drakus V, a barren, uninhabited world near the Eternal Ones’ supply line.

If we hit them here, we could cripple their forward operations.

If we failed ... there wouldn’t be another chance.

I exhaled slowly. The weight of command pressed down on me. This wasn’t just a battle. This was the battle.

A soft chime interrupted my thoughts.

“Enter,” I said, without looking away from the display.

The door slid open, and I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

Ny’Vara.

She stepped inside, moving beside me without a word. For a moment, we simply stood there, gazing at the war table together.

Then she spoke. “You’re worried.”

I glanced at her. “Wouldn’t be much of a leader if I wasn’t.”

She studied the tactical map, arms crossed. “The fleet’s ready. The warriors are ready.” A pause. Then, softer: “Are you?”

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “I don’t know. This isn’t just some skirmish, Ny’Vara. If we lose here...”

She turned to face me, her golden eyes sharp. “Then we die fighting. That’s the way of things. But we won’t lose.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That confident in me?”

She smirked. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I wasn’t.”

I felt the heat rise to my face, but before I could respond, the comms officer’s voice cut through the air.

“Captain! We’re receiving the final reports from the fleet. All ships are in position.”

I exhaled. No more delays.

“Patch them through,” I ordered.

### The Last Stand of Drakus V

The fleet floated in the cold abyss, hidden behind the shadow of a massive asteroid field orbiting Drakus V.

From the bridge of the G’Tarok, I watched as the final ships locked into formation.

Five Narn heavy cruisers, three Kha’reli war-carriers, a handful of Centauri rogue destroyers, and over a hundred smaller support craft. It wasn’t the grand armada of old, but it was what we had.

And it would have to be enough.

A deep, guttural voice crackled over the comms. Va’karr, the grizzled Narn admiral, appeared on the holo-display. His battle-worn face was set in a grim expression.

“Harper,” he growled. “The scouts have confirmed it. The Eternal Ones’ fleet is en route. We count at least fifty warships—three dreadnoughts, several dozen cruisers, and more fighters than we can track.”

My jaw tightened. We were outnumbered. Badly.

I turned to the crew. “Bring up the battle plan.”

The holo-map shifted, displaying the engagement zone.

“We can’t face them in open battle,” I said. “Our best chance is to lure them into the Drakus V gravity well. If we position our fleet in the asteroid field, we can use the debris as cover, forcing them to come to us.”