"Is that everything?"
Sylas asked, and when he heard Sera confirm, he severed the pirate leader's head.
[Yes, we have taken everything we can, including supplies for the people on the space station. We no longer have to worry about energy consumption. We've replenished Genesis Ark's Aether Cell and stored the rest in the space station.]
"Good," Sylas said, preparing to leave. But not before he looked around one last time at the once-luxurious panic room of the pirate leader.
Now there was barely anything left. Most of the items were useless trinkets, personal belongings, or irrelevant documents. Seeing no reason to waste time, he turned around and left.
"Have all the bombs been set?"
[Yes, master, everything is ready.]
"Good, order the droids to withdraw and transport them back to the Genesis Ark. Prepare the ship for orbital bombardment—raze everything to the ground."
Sylas knew time was limited. The Baron could arrive at any moment. Given the time they had spent here, it was only a matter of time before reinforcements showed up in force.
Even though he had a high chance of winning the battle, he still didn't want it to occur, as it would only lead to unnecessary losses.
[The Battle Droids are withdrawing from the surface. I secured the important data that documents the Baron's involvement with the pirates as well as other pirate groups the Baron is involved with, along with irrefutable evidence.]
Hearing that, Sylas nodded and sprinted toward the exit of the underground headquarters at top speed. Sera was monitoring the entire solar system, and her fleet of ships was coming out of hyperspace.
The pirates' reinforcements were already on their way.
[You have approximately thirty minutes until enemy reinforcements arrive.]
He nodded, everything was going as he predicted.
*******
{Command Deck of the Genesis Ark}
Approximately three minutes later, Sylas emerged on the surface of the pirate base and was immediately boarded onto the gunship waiting to take him to the Genesis Ark.
The moment he arrived in the command deck, he gave the order:
"Set off the bombs and commence orbital bombardment—highest intensity."
Sera immediately activated the bombs planted at the same time she unleashed hell upon the pirates' headquarters.
Dozens of laser batteries fired continuously, and the ship's primary cannons rained devastation.
Within a minute, everything was obliterated. The only things left on the surface were the remains of buildings, molten rock, and a blazing inferno.
"That should count as complete, right?"
Sylas spoke almost jokingly as he watched the sheer destruction below.
"Well then, drop the package."
[The package has been dropped, in an easy-to-find place.]
"Activate the cloaking system, activate the hyperdrive, and set course for the space storm."
In a blink, the Genesis Ark vanished from realspace before jumping into hyperspace.
Moments later, several dozen warships bearing the insignia of the Helian Navy arrived, swarming the planet with urgency.
Alas, they had arrived too late. The pirates' headquarters had already been reduced to smoldering ruins.
The Helian Navy vessels descended to the wreckage site, searching for survivors, while others began scanning the entire star system.
But it no longer mattered. Sylas was long gone.
*******
{Baron Helian's Flagship}
Baron Helian sat in the command chair of his flagship, his fingers drumming impatiently against the armrest as the fleet dropped out of hyperspace.
A grim silence filled the bridge as the pirate base loomed before them—a wasteland of fire and ruin.
This was not how it was supposed to go.
The plan had been meticulous.
He would wait three days before arriving at the space station, ensuring that by the time his forces "responded," the space station's inhabitants would already be eliminated.
To sell the deception further, he had even orchestrated an attack—a raid on a merchant vessel carried out by one of the other pirate groups under his control.
That battle would serve as a perfect excuse for his fleet's delay, a reasonable alibi to absolve him of suspicion.
It was a masterful scheme. But something had gone wrong.
By the second day, an unsettling realization struck him—there had been no communication from the pirates at
Apologies for the incomplete response. Here's the continuation of the revised version:
*******
By the second day, an unsettling realization struck him—there had been no communication from the pirates at the station.
No distress signals, no battle reports, not even encrypted check-ins. That silence was deafening.
Unease twisted in his gut, and Baron Helian had immediately ordered his fleet to disengage from the fake skirmish and make all haste toward the space station.
But when he arrived—there was nothing.
Not even wreckage.
Only the charred remains of pirate ships, their hulls shredded beyond recognition, corpses floating lifelessly in space.
The station was gone. Not destroyed—gone. As if it had been swallowed whole.
His throat tightened. Who had the power to erase a space station so completely?
With dread clawing at his thoughts, he ordered the fleet to the pirate base on the planet, the last place where there might still be answers.
Now, as his warships settled into orbit and the first reconnaissance teams reported back, the answer was painfully clear.
The base was nothing but a smoldering ruin.
The reinforced bunkers, the defensive turrets, the underground facilities—all reduced to slag and ash.
Whatever had struck here had done so with the wrath of a god, leaving behind only molten rock and the skeletal remains of what once stood.
Baron Helian clenched his fists, his jaw tightening as fury and panic warred within him.
Someone had beaten him to it. Someone had sabotaged his plan, leaving him with nothing but a mystery and a trail of obliteration.
His eyes darkened.
"Whoever did this… will pay."
*******
{Thirty minutes later. Helian flagship}
Baron Helian stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression carved from stone as he gazed upon the burning ruins of the pirate base.
The smog of destruction still lingered in the air, the scent of scorched metal and vaporized bodies clinging to the wind.
The silence was only broken when one of his fleet captains returned, his boots crunching against the charred ground as he approached with measured urgency.
"My Lord," the captain said, bowing slightly. "We found nothing—no survivors, no data logs, no escape pods. Everything was utterly destroyed."
Baron Helian's eyes narrowed. "Except?"
The captain hesitated, then presented a small, circular disc-like object, no larger than a man's palm.
It looked like it had just popped out of its pack from the store, untouched by the devastation that had consumed everything else.
Helian's frown deepened as he took the device. It was pristine. Perfect. Out of place.
"Why is it in such good condition?" he asked, suspicion thick in his voice.
Before the captain could reply, the disc hummed to life. A thin blue light pulsed from its center.
Then, a voice—smooth, calm, and laced with cold amusement—spoke.
"Because I wanted you to find it."