Flaming Star Rubies were detected in the very core of Sorrel II. Deep core mining on that level required much more advanced machinery, stuff made with polycarbyne, plasma steel and triphene. Even in the Uber States or Kanonasia, that sort of gear was top tier, highly specialized equipment. They wouldn’t sell it to just anyone.The Woofers, however, were willing to lend theirs… in return for half the haul.“One tenth!” Remian bargained.“One third!” Just A Dog wouldn’t go any lower. “And we’ll crew it for you!”In the end, it came down to either working with the Woofers or stealing heavy industrial machinery from their Class 5 neighbors. Given the urgency of their need, Remian agreed to the Woofer co-op.Dark Silver Ice was also nearly impossible to reach. They’d have to get into the depths of the oldest ice at the far poles of the planet. Those, too, would need advanced mining equipment on top of extreme cold weather gear to mine. Thankfully, the Woofer co-op covered them too… for the

“In other words, even if we succeed in space, we should prepare to fight the Mitigok on the ground.” Remian summarized.“I’m afraid so.” Ermine admitted. Despite everything, that was the only conclusion she could reach. “Hopefully we can stave off most of them, but some of them will inevitably slip through.”“What can we expect from their ground troops?” George asked.“The incoming swarms have 17 Baronnesses and there’s no way all of them will stop at the outer planets. Each Baronness is accompanied by an average of 10 Rooks, maybe a hundred Knights and a few hundred Bishops. Thousands of Pawns.”“Thinking back to the Mitigok we fought on Xiao Yan’s world, those Pawns didn’t seem all that bad. Now that we’ve got the gear and experience to fight off Undead at Tier 7 and 7.5, we should be able to handle them somewhat.”“Mitigok Pawns range betw

“Fourth volley, second half, launching!”The third missile volley was taken out by another shockwave.“Artillery ready! Third volley firing!” Tactical announced.Even as they fired, the Mitigok Swarm fired back. Not at Vance’s main formation, though. They fired at Claire’s.“Claire! Watch out!” Vance blurted.“Reinforce shields!” Claire’s voice was heard over the comms.Vance watched, fingers tightening on his armrest as the artillery volleys crossed space and slammed into their targets.From the Mitigok Swarm, another few blips among hundreds blinked out.And Claire, who was halfway between Vance and the Mitigok, took a volley of plasma fire that much more powerful than Vance had taken.“It’s coming straight for us!”“Brace for impact!” Claire shouted before explosions and alarms sounded.“All shields down! Obsidian Tower signal lost! Black Shoe, Dark Cloud, Jet Black losing power! Looming Shadow heavily damaged! All ships reporting significant damage!”Four ships down and one more b

The First Duchess struck with unprecedented fury. Her Rooks struck the ground with enough force to send concrete and dirt fountaining in every direction, raising enough dust to cloud the horizon.As the dust cleared, the hulking shapes of Pawns charged out of the clouds. They tore through buildings like they were paper, even as Knights and Bishops began to land and take the lead in their advance.They went for the defense towers and the command center at the same time, every Pawn given a clear direction, dividing into Knight-led squads. Each squad targeted a series of defense towers, except for the strongest six. The six strongest Knights and their elite squads made directly for the command center.Lan Shan scrambled everything he had. Remian himself went out in the Star Wizard Acrobat, only to find the command center already breached. Two of the Mitigok squads had broken through the perimeter and were trying to break in from the south.He raised his Sword and spoke Truth. “You do not

Remian woke up to find himself in a cocoon of sorts. It wasn’t an Elven cocoon; way too dry, and it had tubes and wires trailing from it, not vines. Phoebe’s work, most likely.Memories flickered. He grimaced. “We lost.”Lan Shan died. Remian shut his eyes, breathing deeply for a bit. Shadowy lightning crackled over his head, psionic energies leaking out of control.“Right. I advanced to Class 8.” Remian sat up, then held his head and laid back down again. “Ugh.”Phoebe burst in. Clearly, she’d come running. She must have received an alert that he was awake. “Remian! What happened?!”“I Blinked.” Remian tried to explain. “Not a physical blink. I mean, the Psionic power ‘Blink’. The short range teleportation that Class 8 Psionics are able to learn. They normally take weeks, maybe months to train it before trying a jump as big as I did… but it was an emergency. I had to take the risk.”“Well, you made it. You’ve been in a coma for three months, but you made it.” Phoebe went from machine