Chapter 80: Chapter 80

The Fastest Man Alive

By: BigToFu

Chapter 80

Benjamin Blake

Emperor, Father, Husband

Standing on the observatory window and looking over the three new planets that would be added to my Empire. I stood there, back straight, in a set of armored combat pants and a snug Saiyan-style bodysuit. The bodysuit covered my entire torso with the sleeves down to my wrist and the legs covering my thighs, doubling as a second pair of shorts underneath my pants. Exotic fur draped over my shoulders from one of my savage lands kills, with a cape trailing down lazily brushing the ground.

Standing there I exuded the confidence of a Warrior Emperor for all who had the spine to gaze upon my form. My posture was straight-backed and tall but not too rigid as to be caught unawares with a blindside style assassination, but then again. The chance of assassination inside of my own supercarrier was vastly low even if it wasn't absolutely zero. I could and would never trust anything to be absolutely zero, but I could accept that my level of paranoia had security at a level that even Natasha found it hard to break into the more secured areas.

With a hum, I smiled as reports flashed before me across the glass panel with reports on the planets being made ready. From what I could tell, the only thing that was needed now was my signal to start the wormhole system.

"Captain Laskey, all crews to stations," I said, my voice smooth as silk for all to hear.

"By your command my Emperor," Captain Laskey replied even as his feet came together, and a fist slammed over his heart. Through my senses and from the reflection on the glass, I noticed that he didn't take his captain's chair. Instead, Laskey waved his hands activating the full holo-suite. Out of the ceiling, a half-moon ring came down placing the good captain in its center.

Ignoring the captain, I knew what would come next, he would activate one of the panels on the new command station, then make his announcement fleet-wide.

"This is Captain Laskey, Fleet Commander of the Pandoran Navy, all crew to stations. I repeat. All crew to stations." Captain Laskey spoke, and his voice came out with authority out across the fleet and every communication node that we owned. "Wormhole transition will be in ten and I expect you all to maintain the professionalism and standards that have been set. Captain Laskey rang out."

I stood arms folded neatly behind me and smiled at the pride that bloomed within everyone from the command deck down to the science vessel docking in one of the freighters.

"XO clear my board," I commanded, my gaze on the data panels before me even as my senses pinged the location of my entire fleet.

"By your will," Xo replied stiffly before he turned on his heel and took his command chair.

"Crew clear…"

"Weapons clear…"

"Ravagers clear…"

"Planet one clear…"

Planet two clear…"

"Planet three clear…"

"Transition nodes, clear…"

"Diagnostics through the fleet check three times, all clear."

"Fleet disposition, and readiness, check, check, check…"

As he called out each one, a new data point opened on the screen before me so that I could see its status.

"Check three times, cleared three times," Xo called back even as he stood from his seat to join the Captain behind me. "My Emperor, the board is clear."

Allowing the silence to settle into place, I gave it a full sixty seconds of grace before I turned away from the observation window with an ultra badass flap of my cape. Both Captain Laskey and his XO fell in line behind me even as I took position inside the half-moon command stations.

"Captain, XO, to your stations and await my order," I spoke my voice commanding but not forceful even as I inputted my own access codes and overrides. Circular panels opened up in the bottom of the floating command panel even as two hand holes popped up for me to grab. Instead of grabbing the handholds automatically, I waited for the connectors through the bottom to report the situation of the main mass driver as my codes were entered. The codes I entered were my own special overrides that would change the mass driver from a mega rail gun into a speed force wormhole projector.

This system could of course be run on its own with the distillation of the speed particle, but an Emperor had to lead by example and for the first grand entrance into the space community. I not only had to lead by the front but also had to make a statement. This would also work to keep a few things hidden from those who might be looking in this direction.

Because I was paranoid like that, I didn't leave anything to chance and would rather act as if Kree, Shi'ar, and Brood were looking in this direction than not. The power connectors came back all clear, before I grabbed the control handles, I took a deep breath to steady myself. With a thought, I mustered the speed force and my magic, then grabbed onto the handles.

Flexing my fingers a little to make sure that I had a proper grip, I then showed the Universe what true power was as I pushed everything that I had into the ship. The adamantium vibranium handles held under what could easily be rated as planet crushing.

"Captain, Aim us towards the center of the system," I spoke even as I fed more and more power into the mass driver core, the panels for power reaching orange with a few warning lights blinking.

"By the Emperor's will," Captain Laskey replied, "All ships, alter forty-two degrees and brace yourselves."

"Altered course set, in three, two, one…." The pilot called and I got green pings across the board in my control unit. "All braced my Emperor."

Well, that was all that I needed to hear as I dug deep, leaned forward, and pushed. The sensors went from orange with little warning to full red as the ship shuddered. That was all right because I made sure that my supercarriers were built with a spine made of adamantium.

My gaze firmed even as the sensors screamed, with gritted teeth, I poured my will through the bulkheads, the cables, and down every connector and conduit within the ship. Reaching forward through my speed force, I gripped the fabric of space then, with a roar, I folded space upon itself as my magic reached out and connected two points in time and space.

Down below, the mass driver core lit up a vibrant gold, purple, blue, and green.

"My Emperor, she can't take any more!" Captain Laskey called as some of the overhead lights sparked and blew.

"Hold Laskey," I yelled back, my eyes blazed with power even as my body radiated an aura that buckled the overhead panels. "Hold!" All I needed was more power, a lot more because not only was I going to bring us all back home, but I was not going to leave behind these three planets when I would be the one responsible for their deaths.

"Sire!"

"Hold!" Was my reply to the XO even as I felt a few of the capacitors begin to swell from the overflow of energy. Increased power flowed through me and into the ship, but I held firm "Release the port and starboard heat evacuation ports!"

"Evacuation ports releasing in three… two… one… released!"

The red-lined screaming sensors started to evacuate heat rapidly and a feral grin spread across my face as the speed force wrapped around the ship in an attempt to embrace her. With a deep belly laugh, I stood straight, tall, and proud as the cameras activated across the Infinity's command deck.

"My people, watch as I cast aside the impossible," I roar bombastically as power roared from my form, lightning flicking outwards. "AND MAKE THE POSSIBLE!"

"NOW LET'S GO HOME!" With a mighty roar, I pushed forward, the ship rocked, the deck shock and a shockwave blasted outwards across the system as the power that had built up to critical shot forward into the center of what used to be a viable solar system.

With a clenched fist, I twisted the control handle sparking energies and forcing a portal into reality. In the center of the solar system for all to see, a supermassive black hole appeared ringed in gold and orange script. A type of hushed silence came over the command deck as they all looked past the viewing screen and towards the portal.

On the other side of the portal floated many other celestial bodies, but what really captured everyone's sight and imagination was the bright star, the floating blue and green planet that sat next to another planet covered in all blue. If that wasn't enough, the third planet was just casually surrounded by multiple spaceships.

Before anyone could say anything, I pressed the button for communication and waited for the handshake to go through with my personal omni-tool.

"Emperor Blake to space station Titian, answer" I commanded as the connection linked to the other side of the portal.

"Space station Titian command and control answering you grace."

"You have five minutes to clear all lanes," I commanded even as I started to input another of my personal override codes. "Three planets will be transitioning through the wormhole."

"Sir, yes sir," Titian's command control returned.

With that cut out, I turned in another direction and hit the call. The other end rang twice before someone picked up the call. With the connection, multiple faces came to life before me from not only various locations but also various states of emotion. Gwen, Jean, and Sue were clearly showing distinct levels of excitement for the science and adventure to be had with the coming planets.

Emma was clearly happy about the prestige and power that the new planets would bring, Ororo was looking towards the more studious aspects about the planet that could be added to her curriculum, but I also noticed that little sly question she snuck in about the weather patterns. Interestingly enough, Natasha was the only one to ask me about hunting on the three planets and I noticed Laura in the background of her video call.

Sage was more interested in the resources that this would bring us along with the possible wealth the same as Emma, but it was Medusa's question that really spiked my interest. She wanted to know if we would be moving the Lycanthropes to the new jungle world and if there would be room for some of the dinosaurs from the Savage Lands.

Yes, that was definitely a good question, but I had plans to develop all my planets. And that was only because of an age old saying of not putting all your eggs in the same basket. That had to wait though because I could tell that things were about to get a little chaotic, so instead of staying silent. I waved a hand across to keep the peace and cut through the crap.

"All of that can wait until later, the same with naming the planets," I stated with a serious nod of the head. "Right now, I want base stations to be set up on each of their surfaces. Also, there will only be an uninstructive study of the ecosystem on the ice planet and the other ocean worlds." When I said that, I sent a hard glare to the pouting Sue and Gwen. "I don't want any mad scientist who thinks they know more than they really do and pull some metaphorical thread and ruin what has naturally occurred."

Gwen cringed at that, "I'll keep Jeffrey off the sign-up sheets then."

My head snapped to her screen at that comment. "Send him back to the island if he pulls stunts like that, his licenses, permits, and off-world privileges can be revoked if he is a threat to the Empire."

Gwen mulled it over for a second before shaking her head, "it's not at that point yet, he listens alright, but if I or anyone leave him alone too long things tend to happen."

At that, everyone started to rub their brows and I definitely felt like I needed a nap, but was far to worried about the nightmares that might be invoked.

"Alright, Nat will send someone to keep an eye on him and Sage will review his work and data," I replied with a sigh, then perked up at the green all clear ping. The space lanes were open with anchor points in location for each planet. "Alright my beauties, duty calls. Love you and I'll be home soon."

With that, I cut the call and focused back up on what I had to do now and not what I wanted to do later. Or more like the multiples of what I wanted to do later. Yes, I would focus now, but would definitely have to revisit those thoughts once I get home.

"All lanes clear, I repeat, all lanes cleared." The communications officer called back with the Space Station Titian tag.

"Alright," I replied, then I started to bark my orders. "I wanted Planet One to go through and set up on a quarter rotation behind earth on the same orbit. Planet two will set up at a quarter rotation on the orbit behind Pandora since I don't want two water planets along the same orbits." I commanded, Captain Laskey was more than up to the task as he and his Xo relayed all my orders. "I want Planet three to be set at half a systems rotation along the Pandoran orbit. Move it people, I want us out of here in five hours tops."

Before I even finished, the three-D map of the solar system was already lit up with activity and movement. From what could be seen on the sensors and radar, the large planetary mass that was marked as Planet One was already moving due to six of my freighter tugs. Even as I stood there watching, I had to crush the itch to go out and help. There was nothing I could do since I was already leading from the front. Well, I could just push the planets, but it wasn't about who had the bigger muscles right now.

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The universe already saw me flex my power; I was already standing like a mountain for them to move if they wanted what was mines. Now, it was my people's turn to show all who were watching what they were capable of, and I wanted those peeping-toms scared out of their minds. I wanted them to know that yes, we not only defeat you, but take everything even the damn nails. Then again, does it count as also taking the nails if you just take the entire planet along when you decide to depart.

Come to think about it, I would need to start seeding another solar system soon. These three planets would mark six class M planets within the SOL system. That was getting far too close to keeping all the eggs in the same basket for me to feel comfortable.

"Planet One has departed," The XO called out and I watched as it vanished off the radar.

"This is Jack Aubrey of the Super Carrier Epstein within Sol, all ships stay clear of gravity wake," The Communications rang out across the ship. "Planet One is on the move. I repeat, Planet One is on the move."

Things rapidly progressed from there and I was happy to see that the anchor lances were able to lock the planets in a proper orbit along with my preferred projections. With the settlement of Planet One, it was Planet Two's turn, but things were already progressing rapidly and quite smoothly, so I didn't have too many worries at the moment. The only real worry that I had was following up the situation in hell now that Mephesto was yeeted off his throne.

Two red blips appeared on the radar and all those little niggling thoughts of mine was pushed to the side as a hand came up and made a grabbing rotating motion. Instantly the area around the two red blips enlarged for all on the bridge to see. In the middle of the bridge, the hologram of two unique ships appeared. Well, they were unique in a sense that I have never seen them before in my life, but not in a sense that I wouldn't know what they were. Both of the ships were in a unique hammer-head shape, but when the image zoomed in for a closer inspection, there were no flag colors being shown.

Hmmm, from what I knew intel wise, we were nowhere close to Shi'ar space. This could mean that these were either the Star Jammers or some other bastards with Shi'ar ships.

"Hail them Captain," I stated then settled into to wait as my orders were carried out. As that was happening, Planet Two finally made it to the other side of the portal and was in the process of being placed in the right ecliptic orbit.

Captain Laskey put across his own orders that the helm crew carried out to perfection, but the negative reply from the communications officer was telling. The radar showed that the red pings clearly were able to hear us, but for some reason, they didn't reply. As I stood there, I watched as the communications officers checked over the universal codecs that Julian provided for electronics handshakes. Everything checked out of course because no Spartan in my employ would ever botch something so easily.

They were haled once more, but again they gave no reply.

"Destroyer Nuvo, I want you to change course to by five degrees and take a position at L2," Captain Laskey spoke while I had already figured out his plan. "Once you get into position, hale them one more time. If they don't answer or turn back, turn them to ash."

With those parting words, the good Captain went back to coordinating the movement of Planet Three, but I kept an eye on the radar either way. Something about those ships seems particular and I really wouldn't put it past Murphy to try and piss in my cheerios at this point. Half a mind was paying close attention to Planet Three and its transition from this solar system to the next. While the other half of my mind was solely focused on the ships a few million kilometers away and on the far side of the system.

With a rising hand motion, I opened the communications line and listened in, "Unknown carrier, this is your final warning. Announce who you are or vacate this system. I repeat, this is your final warning."

Some of the crew members on the bridge slowed down in their work to listen, but I was already moving my hands across the keyboard activating the coms.

"Fuck the warning, launch localized interdiction," I barked my command already figuring out why they were just sitting at the edge of the system. The bastards weren't here to watch, they were here to figure out where we were going. "Jam them, run them down and then atomize the bastards. Destroyer Whirlwind, get over there and back up Novac. I want those ships dusted."

"By the Emperor's will."

That was all the return I got before a ship peeled off my carrier group and started to rapidly cross the system. On the radar, the two ships didn't move for a solid five seconds, but that was already far too late. Novac launched a fast mover to keep them in focus as the interdiction went out, a grey bubble marking a million kilometers of space locked from all currently known forms of warp.

I ignored the information on Planet Three being slotted into place changed the radar to full hologram mode from the Novac and Whirlwind Destroyers. I listened in as the Captain of the two ships gave orders and coordinated their approach. The Novac would be the runner to cut them off with the Whirlwind pulling up the rear to dust the two ships. The fact that when the fast runner was launched the two ships opened fire was a clear indication that they were not here out of kindness.

The moment the two ships opened fire on the runner, two more were launched and Whirlwind picked up speed. Captain Laskey came to stand at my side, and I noticed that we were set in a position to pursue if the need arise. That need almost certainly came as the two ships decided that they wanted to go separate ways.

"OP's, I want you to crash that runner into the engines of that fleeing ship," The Captain of the Novac ordered, and I could only nod since that was a proper move as they pursued their own quarry. I watched as the second ship was crippled by an explosion that took out its engines while Novac and her crew bore down like hungry wolves on the hammer-head before it. "Launch torpedo's, battery One through Four, two volleys, prep the particle canon."

The hammer-head got lucky and one of its defense guns was able to shoot down a torpedo, but that was as far as their luck would travel. There was one hit, then two, then three and before one could really discern the situation, the ship was missing a section of its middle with part of the hammer-head missing. Novac didn't hail them this time, no, what Novac did was line up the shot and took it.

Once Novac was finished there was nothing left of the ship, hell, I didn't even have to give the order to take down the single shuttle launched. Without a second thought, Novac launched a runner before turning towards the other carrier that was disabled a few million kilometers away. The Whirlwind was having a far easier time while also not due to the chance that its opponent had to think up a proper plan.

On the screen, that one ship went from a single blip to over a dozen within seconds. OH, that was a smart move, but it looked as if Whirlwind was already prepared for that move.

"Launch three interdiction runners, railguns, mark close targets, torpedoes away." Captain of the Whirlwind ordered. Standing and waiting, I watched the slugging match no matter how short it was. While the Destroyer was working on shooting down the fleeing crafts, she took a broadside but shook that off and kept going. A grin spread across my face at the sight of no one getting injured by exploding counsels or any such nonsense.

---

(Scene Break)

Destroyer Whirlwind

Captain Sheppard looked over the bridged eyes hard, "Alright folks, let's cleaned this up nice and neat so we can go home." His voice rang out across the bridge. "They might appear dead in the water but that doesn't mean we go easy on them; helm rotate us twelve degrees on the axis. Tactical, I want our guns warmed up by the time we arrive."

Settling back in his command chair, Sheppard stapled his fingers together as he took in the stars before him. The hologram projected before his seat had a countdown of more than a few kilometers, but at the pace, they were going, they would arrive in minutes. That was going to be more than enough for the crew of what appears to be a Shi'ar ship to get ready. Honestly, he was really hoping that these ships weren't Shi'ar ships and were only that way by design.

Hell, everything about this just screamed black operations, but even so, he had a job to do.

"Captain, we have a situation." The Officer at the radars Ops stations called out. "Contacts! Contacts! Contacts!" As the call out went across the bridge, the hologram before his command chair was automatically updating itself. What he found sent a shiver down his spine.

"Dive, dive, dive," The Sheppard barked as the explosions rocked the Destroyer. Hands gripped tight onto the command chair, the captain gritted their teeth as the stars shifted and the ships groaned from the force the powerful engines placed on the body. Sheppard's hands flew across controls hitting multiple buttons on the command chair to bring up the latest sensor data, target acquisition, and shields levels. Okay, maybe this wouldn't be so easy. On the holographic radar, that singular hammer-head was split into multiple signatures.

"Torpedo bays one through twelve, mark targets." Sheppard barked and the bridge crew worked like a well oiled machine. The ship rocked one more time as they took another hit to the shields. "Roll and fire from starboard to port cannons. XO get me a line on those signals"

"Targets marked!" The Tactical Officer called his hands flying across his own weapons interface.

"Fire!" Captain Sheppard barked his order and within seconds he watched as blue lights fired out from the model on his radar.

"Torpedoes in the water captain." Tactical officer called back even as more explosions rang out around the ship.

The ship shuddered and the captain saw the hip in the shields levels before someone from engineering called out, "Shields hit Captain, 86% and holding steady."

"Roll us underneath and bring us up on their port side." Captain Sheppard commanded, "And what is the charge of my particle cannon!"

"Charge is at 72%, Captain!"

"Helm, I want us in line to fire that shot." Sheppard called out. "Tactical, I want those signatures dealt with, we can't have any of them leave the system."

"This is Destroyer Novac, approaching from due north of your elliptical"

"We read you five by five, Novac." Captain Sheppard of the Whirlwind replied even as the ship shook once more from the return fire of the hammer-head. "Please stay clear of our primary firing arc, particle cannon is charged."

"We read you and will be assisting in closing off the decoys, Novac out."

Before he could give any more orders, his XO spoke up. "Captain, I have been working in tandem with communications and we were able to get full scans on all those signals. The escape craft that attempted to escape was shot down, we read a debris field a mile wide."

"Cannon Charged, Captain!"

"Fire!" Sheppard barked a fist slamming into his command chair. There was a whine of power before a crack thump of the main particle cannons shook the ship. The main view screen dimmed for a half-second before clearing up to reveal the hammer-head corvette missing half its middle.

Sheppard gave a nod of confirmation, "The honor of this boarding shall be yours XO, call the Spartans"

"By the Emperor's grace, Captain."

---

(Scene Break)

The onslaught was just too much for the last hammer-head corvette as my Destroyer tore it apart. Even as my hands flew across the keyboard, I gave praise where it was due even as I ordered another ship to get out and help survey that area. I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night. Two ships were better than one, so it could only mean that with three ships, nothing should be missed. Wasn't about to let some stealth shuttle make it out of the system or whatever else they were able to prepare. It was best to cut off all forms of escaping with whatever data they were able to glean.

Happy with the outcome, I made note of the few weaknesses in the shielding before closing the hologram. Next time, I wanted to be on the ship and make the calls. For the time being, I don't begrudge my people for being able to flex their stuff and show the skills they have trained so hard to obtain.

"Captain, take us home." I stated with my statement a clear command and the uplifting of morale around the ship was palpable.

"Of course, my Emperor." Captain Laskey said as he gave me a half bow, "Helm, shift course eastward by twenty-two point five degrees, it's time to go home."

 

Author’s Note:

Welp, back to the Empire we go, also need alot more research on space battles. It also doesn't help that we don't have space flight, but that's fine. The Expanse and a few submarine movies should help fill the gap.  

There are plenty of space battle planned for the future, but I need to find the right balance between submarine-type battles and battleship-style battles. Anyway, this is just a taste and I want to do one in a fighter or during combat taking boarders and shields failing. Have plans to do more battles and I'm going to keep trying until i can pin it down properly because I really want some epic space battles. 

Not going to lie, the research for all this is crazy. Plenty of hours dumped into media.

Runners = drones. Fishes = torpedos. Water = space.

Let me know what you guys think about the chapter.

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