Asteroid P331, population 5 million, was a small resource world.
And so the Arctic Fox star system had built several bases here and stationed 5 million people to carry out resource-extraction work on this small resource world.
Who could have thought that calamity would fall from the sky?
That a cosmic bug-nest would appear, of all things!
And the first to be endangered was this very asteroid P331 of theirs.
The asteroid's overseer was, at this moment, running himself ragged pressing the evacuation forward — but alas, the interstellar transports here were too few; to this point, less than a tenth of the people had been carried off.
Their own transport capacity was nowhere near enough; yet the interstellar-transport fleet under the Arctic Fox star system lord's fleet, which by rights should have arrived half an hour ago, was nowhere to be seen.
"How is your evacuation coming along!" A video window appeared before the asteroid overseer.
On the far side was a woman in the military uniform of the Starlight Empire's imperial navy.
"So far, we've evacuated only 500,000 people; more than 4 million are still waiting," the overseer answered.
"And the interstellar-transport fleet?" The woman officer frowned, plainly displeased with the pace.
"Not yet… not yet arrived," the overseer said helplessly.
"Captain, a great mass of bugs has appeared off our fleet's right flank! There are too many; we must pull back over a wide arc!"
"Captain, an enemy T2 Hive Mothership is firing on us with a plasma cannon; a T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer's hull is damaged!"
The woman officer's end was a din of noise, report piling on report, each piece of news adding a measure to the overseer's dread.
"My lady… perhaps… perhaps you'd best pull back first. To sacrifice 30 imperial-navy ships for the few million here — it isn't worth it," the overseer urged again.
These words he had already spoken several times over.
Had this lady not led her imperial-navy fleet charging here, he himself would likely have boarded a ship and left long ago.
"We still have time! We cannot abandon a single one of the empire's people!" the woman officer said sharply.
The overseer smiled bitterly within. You have a merciful heart, my lady, but pray don't drag us of the asteroid leadership down with you as your funerary companions.
If she wouldn't leave, then none of them could leave either.
"We'll keep stalling the interstellar hive-race's assault on our end; we reckon we can hold another two hours yet! You find a way to get the people evacuated as fast as you can!" the woman officer said, unshakable.
"Yes…" the overseer answered, steeling himself.
Starlight Empire, Seventh Legion · Third Corps · subordinate Fifth Fleet · flagship, a Fire-Leopard-class Medium Interstellar Battleship, the bridge.
The woman officer, her comm just ended, looked grimly at the ship radar before her.
On the radar were dense, countless red dots — a number reaching into the millions!
These were all bugs!
"My lady, we… we truly must pull back now. Fight on like this, and one slip could see our fleet snared by the swarm and wiped out to the last! Right now, relying on our firepower, we can suppress the swarm somewhat — but as the swarm's numbers grow, we'll soon… we'll soon be surrounded, and then we won't be able to withdraw at all!" a female adjutant at her side urged anxiously.
The woman officer clenched her teeth and said, unwilling, "So are we to abandon the millions of lives on that world!"
"My lady, your life is worth far more than those millions of lives!" the female adjutant said bluntly.
"No! Everyone's life is the same. As soldiers of the empire, it is our duty to protect the empire's people," the woman officer said, righteous and firm.
Within, the female adjutant felt 10,000 horses galloping through her heart. My lady, could you please not let your sense of justice go bursting at the seams at a time like this?
Left no choice, the female adjutant could only play her trump card. "My lady, you care for those millions — but have you not thought: should any harm come to you here, how many would have to pay the price for it? And how many families would be dragged into it besides!"
The woman officer wrestled with it inwardly. She knew well enough that she was being a touch "willful" now — but her sense of justice would not let her lightly cast aside the millions of lives on that world.
"Two hours! We'll hold out two more hours!" The woman officer clenched her teeth and gave ground.
"Two hours is impossible! In our present state we can hold an hour at most! An hour, and we withdraw no matter what. If it comes to it, take your ship and pull back; I'll lead what's left of the fleet and hold here!" the female adjutant said, hardening her heart.
Set against this lady's life, a fleet of 30 imperial-navy ships was, quite simply, nothing.
"How could I flee and leave you all behind!" The woman officer rejected the notion. She clenched her fists and asked, "The bounty mission I put out earlier — is there still no fleet come to support us?"
"My lady, there's no chance anyone will come to support us!" At this the female adjutant truly wanted to knock her lady out cold and carry her off bodily.
The woman officer wrestled within; her sense of justice and the hard realities were colliding again and again.
Retreat, or not retreat?
And at this moment, on the battlefield — because the bugs' numbers kept swelling — a T2 Guardian-class Medium Interstellar Frigate had already had its line breached by the swarm; bug after bug, each fully the size of a human body, flung itself onto the ship's hull armor and began chewing at it in a frenzy.
Against these bugs clinging to its hull, this T2 Guardian could do nothing but watch, helpless, as its hull armor was gnawed into gap after gap, one bite at a time.
"Report — T2 Guardian No. 0712's starboard hull has been overrun by a mass of flying-bugs… it can't… it can't be saved." a bridge crewman reported to the woman officer.
Once bugs latched onto a ship, it was basically half a foot into the halls of Yama — nine deaths and one bare chance of life.
The woman officer looked at that T2 Guardian in anger and guilt; it would be the first ship of her fleet to founder here — and, in all likelihood, not the last.
"Report! A swarm of interstellar drones has appeared to our fleet's rear!" a crewman who'd been watching the ship radar suddenly reported.
"A swarm of interstellar drones?" The woman officer was startled.
Just as they marveled at these interstellar drones—
—the drone swarm had already charged into the battle, fixing on those flying-hive-race and pouring fire into them, blasting the flying bugs to pieces.
And going, besides, to the aid of that beleaguered T2 Guardian.
Relying on the interstellar drones' autocannon fire, they cleared away, bit by bit, all the flying bugs clinging to the ship's hull.
At last that T2 Guardian, dragging its battered hull, pulled clear of the danger zone.
"These… interstellar drones… where have they come from?" The woman officer was astonished.
And just then, a comm came through.
"I'm the commander of the Black Dragon Fleet, come to support per the bounty mission." A man's voice sounded over the comm channel.
The woman officer felt, in that moment, a rush of joy near enough to tears. See there!
Her call for aid — there had, after all, been someone willing to come! There had, after all, been someone who, like her, held justice in their heart!
And at this moment, far off across the battlefield, several vast bug-shaped creatures, each like an interstellar warship, were closing, step by step, upon the fight.