Chapter 51: Chapter 50 – Four Claws

Inside an Astropath, 30 warships of the Wuulfharns were heading towards their mining system. They were not really afraid of defeat. Especially not against the Neo-Hegemony. They even celebrated it as it was a great way to collect forces and validate to their neighbors why they were amassing an invasion fleet. The 30 ships heading forward were nothing but the vanguard, sent to push back the enemy and recapture their mining station. They even thought it should still be up and operational, and they are going to be arriving amidst an ongoing battle for it.

Orashun, their home system, was an arid planet. The Wuulfharn occupying this system called themselves the Black Stripes, as their fur was decorated with precisely that. They were one of many Wuulfharn independent systems, all of which were working towards their own goals and serving their leading clans. Orashun had four subsidiary systems under its rule. One was the one that Neo-Hegemony just occupied, focused on mining. The other was the slave planet that Mirian had managed to stumble upon before. The third was a star system with two gas giants inside of it, their primary source for refueling their army and ships. The fourth was a system with nothing valuable but a buffer zone with their neighbor, another Wuulfharn clan that they occasionally fought against.

Like most of their kind, they focused on raiding and slave trading. When they started to gather their forces, all of their neighbors and species living close by started to pay attention. Sometimes even launching a preemptive strike to deter them from raiding their borders. Now, they had a good reason to do so, and they didn't fear to announce it. The Neo-Hegemony launched an attack on one of their systems. They were going to retaliate.

The news also caught the interest of other Wuulfharn worlds situated close to the action. They were already gathering their forces as this was the perfect opportunity to drum up as many ships as possible and launch a 'crusade' against them. It was centuries since the last one, and the scars from those days were already faded. Gate of Kaltazar? Now it will be blasted through. The 30 ships sent to reclaim their base? Just a little warm-up until the proper fleet gathers, and they can travel to their world and plunder it. What these quickly gathering, mainly Wuulfharn forces, didn't pay attention to was the truly massive Empire of their brethren. Their action or, more precisely, their inaction.

In a faraway world, at another spiral arm of the Milky Way, laid an empire calling itself the Four Claws. They were a Wuulfharn-ruled society consisting of 500 systems. From that, two-thirds of it were settled. It was one of the few superpowers, deciding the fate of trillions in their part of the Galaxy. As it was an empire dominated by the Wuulfharn species, they were like the de facto leaders of their species, even if many of them retained their independence and little kingdoms over small systems outside of their official territory.

The Empire's power was focused on a planet that was nothing but a whole city. It was interconnected on so many levels, not even the ruling cast could know of the many streets and alleyways. It housed 10 billion souls, and those were only the people who could be counted when a census was sent out. On this hive-like world's top level, above the border of the troposphere, laid the 'City of Nobles.' A continent-sized layer where the most influential people of the Four Claws empire lived. As their name suggests, it was Four families. Four Claws, who made it up.

In a luxurious palace, where the floors were made of marble, the walls from polished bones of immense creatures, a beast was floating in a pool of sparkling, unnaturally clean water. He was a four-meter-tall 'man' with thick, dark-blue fur and golden eyes. He looked like a majestic wolf, evolved to be capable of walking on its hind legs. He was just floating there, looking at the ceiling, which had an ancient human mural on it. A find that he came across decades ago and decided to incorporate into his palace. It depicted long-lost human Gods, something he knew they called the 'Olympians.' The centerpiece was supposedly the human Goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. He knew no more, but he had to admit… he would have loved to mate with a human female like that. He has not once voiced his opinion to the others, receiving wild gazes, insults, and pure disgust as to how he could think about something like that.

"Yet our ancestors did mate with them." He said to nobody as he was alone, enjoying a leisurely time.

"My Lord." A voice suddenly echoed, coming closer, making him stand up from the water, letting it drip down from his drenched fur.

The owner of the voice was a smaller Wuulfharn, only reaching up to his chest. Her figures were more feminine as she bowed, her ears flat, and her tail wrapped around her waist to prevent it from wagging.

"Hm." The giant of a wolf smiled, smelling a preciluriar scent coming from her. "Speak."

"We caught some interesting news from the borderlands." She said, stealing a glance with sparkling green eyes, looking at his body and taking in his dominating aura. She presented a datapad with trembling hands as he walked closer, taking it and brushing her fingers.

"Hmmm…" He raised his eyebrows, reading it, gently tapping on the back of the datapad with his black claws. "Do the other Claws know about it?"

"We don't think so… not yet, at least, My Lord." She answered with a lowered head, taking deep breaths after being so close to him, enjoying his scent to the fullest.

"Good. Try to keep it that way and send out a squad of Hunters. Tell them to just observe. Do not interfere. I want to know the situation, and they must wait for my orders."

"Yes!" She said, breathing heavily before being excused. After she left, the man walked to one of his walls which folded apart, revealing a huge screen. He raised his hand, tapping on the projected dial, and after a moment of static, the image of a pink blob appeared on it.

"Claw of the Night." The jelly said as she had a young, flirtatious voice. "Need of something? To call me personally?"

"Junita, Call me by my name, please." He shook his head.

"You are the Alpha of one of the Claws? Isn't that your name?"

"That is my title, you cheeky bitch!" He laughed. "Do I call you the Whore of the Alliance?"

"Hah! Nobody dares to call me that to my face except you! So? What do you need now, Roxo?"

"You are one of the most influential people of the Alliance of Free Systems. You ought to know what is happening with the Neo-Hegemony."

"I may. I may not."

"I am willing to pay." He said, tapping his holographic dial and hearing a ping at Junita's side.

"Oh, how generous! Yeah, some interesting things are going on with them. They are expanding. I have a suspicion that it is connected to my grandfather."

"The old jello is still kicking?" Roxo chuckled.

"Of course!" She trembled, probably laughing. "I am sending over what I know about the situation. But here is the gist of it: They took a system from one of your brethren's. They also repelled the arriving relief fleet of 30 ships. No survivors. I have no more info; no ships sent to the system returned communications since then. And no ships came out. Which is weird."

"Hmmm…. It is weird. I am sending in my Hunters, but you are closer. Can you contact your grandfather? Get me some inside scoop?"

"I could contact him. But to get something out of him? Fat chance. You know he has joined up with them fully. He is even one of the top dogs in the Neo-Hegemony! His nonexistent lips are sealed!"

"Come on, I know he likes you! You were his sweety-pie!"

"Pft, drop it, wolfy. You won't get free info with that sweet-talk of yours! I'll see what I can do, but it will cost you!"

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"Sure." Roxo nodded, "If you manage to contact him, give him a message."

"About what?" She asked curiously.

"The Claw of the Night is interested in making some deals~."

…
….
…..

Now not just a thick asteroid field was circling around the white dwarf. It was joined by multiple destroyed ships', blown apart as soon as they exited the Astropath. They mainly were frigates and a handful of destroyers that came through. They managed to deal some damage, disable four Neo-Hegemony light cruisers, and blow up three frigates. Right now, the Veil was opened up and vulnerable, standing at the back of the defensive half-circle of their invasion fleet. Hundreds of shuttles were coming from its hangar bays, including the Xanthe. The Veil brought most things with them to set up some automated defensive platforms, and they were hurrying to build them before the second wave arrived.

"The reinforcement is on its way." Admiral Jankho's voice explained while Parthen was sitting on the bridge of the Veil. "They will arrive in two days. Bringing along the heavy platforms slows them down considerably."

"Can we hold it until then?"

"We must." The admiral answered with a firm voice.

"You don't need to wait for two days," Omega interjected, stepping onto the bridge. "I received a message from Mirian."

"Oh?" Both of them exclaimed simultaneously, curious at what he had to say next.

"They recovered something you are going to love! It is an operational battle station. They are already on their way."

"With a battlestation?" Jankho asked, unsure if he heard it right.

"It is a mobile station." Omega smiled. "It may not arrive precisely on time as they need to take some detours to get here, and it is not the fastest thing in the world… but they will arrive approximately 30 hours from now on."

"I am starting to suspect-" The Admiral started to say something, but Omega just raised his hand.

"I am but Mirian's advisor." Nobody said anything, and Jankho was not someone who would start making guesses." Let's start discussing how to set up the defensive lines. It won't be an easy battle, and I assume we won't have more warships arriving."

"No," Jankho replied. "We can't draw the fleet away from the Gate. Most of them know we are here. They may try and break through, thinking our forces are focused here. We expect an assault on the Gate. It has been in lockdown mode since we left."

"I thought so." Omega nodded, crossing his hands. "Did any of you bring with him a prototype Suit?"

At his question, Parthen visibly flinched, but Jankho remained calm and acknowledged the fact.

"Yes. We planned to gain knowledge by watching the real one in action so we could make modifications on the spot. But seeing its capabilities, we now truly believe that our version won't have anywhere near the performance without that Abyss Battery."

"You were fast." Omega whistled. "Already building one that is operational?"

"It is just a prototype," Parthen interjected. "It has nothing like the original's melding capability. It has a different power source. It is also bigger because of it. It is just a mockup to iron out the mistakes before we go to full production."

"Mors Caminus is still being modified. Even if we have the plans and the help from the Prof's team, we are only close to replicating the real thing." Jankho added. "The merchant guilds are still getting the resources. The main issue is getting enough Formium. We contacted the source you got us in the Alliance, but we hit a wall for now." He sighed, laying it out honestly.

"I see. So the prototype is-"

"A prototype," Parthen said, cutting him off. "I wouldn't send it out. It has many issues, and we only brought it to have a model to work on and mark our mistakes."

"But can it fly?"

"It can." Both of them said after a bit of thinking.

"Good. Let me field it in the upcoming battle. I am going to produce better results that way than you watching Xanthe and reading its recordings."

"You really are suicidal, aren't you?" Parthen sighed, shaking his head.

"Not really." He smiled. "But I want to ensure we hold out until Mirian and the Professor arrives…."