The Martial Unity

“High-speed warpship M14 has been launched.”

“Trajectory deviation within acceptable parameters.”

“Temperature and other vital systems are stable.”

The atmosphere within the Pioneer VIII’s central command room was intense. Each and every single person, from analysts, operators, to the crew, and even the leadership, understood just how important this operation was. On it was mounted a tremendous amount of effort that had been poured by all of Gaian Civilization. It was a mission that was meant to secure the future of all of Gaian Civilization in the stars. It was necessary for the ambition of the Emperor of Water to conquer ten thousand stars in ten years, an ambition that had quickly become the ambition of the political leadership of Gaian Civilization.

The sheer amount of pressure that bore down on each and every single one of them was truly enormous. It made them feel incredibly burdened, and even Admiral Soehok, who had prepared for a mission to Sirius as one of the twenty pioneering omni-ships from Gaia, felt a tremendous amount of pressure pressing down on her.

They watched as the warpship moved towards the gargantian at exactly the same pace as every other spacecraft that had been sent before to test the gargantian. They knew from prior experimentation that the gargantian didn’t react to objects that were moving extremely slowly relative to its body.

This warpship was unlikely to be a stimulus that would cause it to react differently this time. Or so they hoped.

The wait was agonizingly long for an operation where the forces were already on the cusp of acting. Everybody knew that all of Gaia’s forces were waiting to enter this star system all the way back in Sol. “Target approaching warp point.”

“One minute left until contact with warp point.”

“No signs of activity from the gargantian specimen on the thermal scans.”

“Ultraviolet scans also reveal no abnormalities.”

“Gravitational sensors are not picking up any deviations.”

Admiral Soehok narrowed her eyes. “Continue keeping an eye out on the planet and the warpship at all times. We don’t want anything going wrong.”

Soon enough, it was time.

“Ten seconds until warp point is reached.”

“…Five seconds.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

WHOOSH

Far away in the distance, the spherical warpship reached the point that it was supposed to reach. Just fifty thousand kilometers away, the mighty gargantian hovered, rotating slowly as it coursed through the very fabric of outer space, revolving around the sun in a slow arc.

The exotic colors of the planet were truly awe-inspiring and beautiful.

It paused as it began warping the very fabric of space and time. What should have immediately alarmed the gargantian didn’t, as the warpship also generated a powerful gravitational cloaking effect, preventing the warping of space and time from being immediately detectable.

It began to open a world bridge.

Not to the Pioneer ship.

No.

But to Gaia.

And yet, it was impossible.

The sheer scale. The sheer distance. The sheer amount of energy it would have taken was many, many orders of magnitude above the energy cells that the spacecraft was equipped with.

And yet, it was not the responsibility of the spacecraft to bridge that unfathomable, astronomical chasm.

Many light-years away, Rui floated before on the other side of a titanic Interstellar Gate, facing the Gaian space force. “It’s time, boss,” the Supreme General’s young voice rang in Rui’s ears.

Rui ignored the informality before simply closing his eyes. Having been given the exact coordinates, he began to spread his senses thinly in one direction. Not his physical senses, no. They would never be able to perceive information from another star system. Instead, his mind peered through the very information dimension that defined all of reality. He peered in one and only one direction, reducing the scope of his senses along an almost infinitesimally thin line in precisely the right direction.

Then he found it.

He found the little efforts of the warpship leading the operation, trying to burrow a hole between Sirus and the Solar System.

He had found the target.

“Ḥ̵̨̘̻̻̭͕͙̻̈́̈́̊̔̇̇͝ë̶̯̳̤̀͒̈̑͐͋̈̄͗͝r̸͉͕͇͙̗̈̂̍̎̀͒͝͝ë̷̪̠̞̘̙͖̬̋͊͑͝ ̷̨̮̲͋̉͐̒͒̃̏̽͑̍̚̚͝ẃ̵̪̫̝̦̙̩͍̪͎͇͈̭͉̂̽͛͐͂̈́͂͠ę̵̨̛̱͇̜̲̤̦̬̹̮̜̻̞̈́͂̀̊͌̿͋͆̚̚͠ ̵̧̢͖͚̩͉͙̮̪̥͔̝̻̊̀̐̄̐́̅̈́̈́̆̾̒̊͜͜͝͝g̸͈̝̭̯̲͋̈́̇̆̈̋o̴͎̟̱̿͌̚.”

His voice rippled through the very fabric of reality, coursing against the flow of causality, resonating in the past, future, and present.

When he opened his ethereal eyes, all he saw was Water.

The fabric of space wasn’t a fabric anymore.

It was as formless as water.

He could course through it with no effort.

Like a fish in water.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook as the very fabric of space warped as Rui enhanced the functions of the Interstellar Gate to a massive extent, substituting for the non-existent energy reserves that would have otherwise fueled it. The sheer might of the Martial Transcendent was enough to singlehandedly compensate for its absence, allowing a titanic wormhole to open up in space.

It opened up to the Sirius star system.

And immediately visible upon its opening was the exotic hues of the gargantian specimen. The very moment that the wormhole stabilized, the fleet carriers that served as the heart of the space force immediately mobilized.

“Execute rapid world bridge formation!”

WHOOSH!

One by one, fleet carriers, battleships, cruisers, frigates, as well as all of their equivalents across all civilizations, immediately began funneling through the wormhole in a perfectly smooth manner as they had prepared for it.

And they had.

They knew that they didn’t have much of a timeframe at all, and while the Interstellar Gate was big, it was not big enough to allow all the spaceships to pass through without any issue. That was an automated protocol that had been programmed and coordinated across all participating members in Gaian Civilization that would automate a highly smooth disembarking through the world bridge.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

One by one, the warships began moving through the wormholes at short bursts of high speeds.

This, of course, was not something that could be hidden from the gargantian. From the very moment the planet sensed the wormhole, it began shaking as its surface began glowing brightly, unleashing a quick laser burst at the warpship before it could summon more ships.

But unfortunately for it, this response had been predicted.