Snippet #2791179

“Sire, alien fleet approaching!”

Lord Tigris narrowed his crystalline eye at the display. Images of the Taiyou vessels shimmered across the projection, and the prince quickly took stock of the situation. They were outnumbered by the hundreds.

He sneered and tapped at his console.

“Full power to shields, finish charging the star javelins, and target locations for spatial bombardments. Do not fear, my loyal subjects. As Alphanius wrote, a thousand shall flee from one, and ten shall pursue a hundred thousand. We again stand upon the ramparts of Arim’arotz, overlooking the great desert and facing an overwhelming flood of pagan heathens. Ha’Ari will be our shield, and His flame will be our sword. I will, however, extend His everlasting mercy and offer an olive branch. Hail them.”

“Hailing on all known frequencies, Your Highness.”

“Attention, Taiyou warriors.” Lord Tigris spoke, his voice gravelly yet bearing the practiced flow of nobility. “I am Prince Tigris Ironclaw, son of Priest-King Sheodin Shadowslayer the Great, and Admiral of the Khroniktan Alliance fleet. I seek honorable parley, as one warrior to another. Your forces threaten colonized territory of the Alliance and the well-being of numerous primitive civilizations, who by divine decree have been brought under our banner as protectorates. You seek justice and deliverance of your kin. This is righteous and honorable. Allow us to mediate, and bring restitution, with minimal collateral damage to innocent third parties.”

Meanwhile, deep in the crystalline structures of the Khroniktan ships, enormous energy crystals overflowed with cosmic power. Siphoned from the first gasping breaths of Creation, the first heartbeats of the Multiverse, primal energy poured into the ships like air into a roaring furnace. Shimmering light materialized across their hulls while light pulsated like a tide just beneath the surface.