John went to the Arbiters’ Bay and watched the holographic display. He stood some distance away from the others. He didn’t want them to notice him, especially now that they were so close to battle. The human fleet bore the emblems and colors of the empire of Oor. Just as the elves had expected, they had jumped through hyperspace to just outside the system and then flown in conventionally. It would take them several months to reach Aroth this way, but it was safer. Human hyperspace technology was not as advanced and efficient as elven aether technology. Traveling through hyperspace was like moving through a tunnel within the aether. Without a beacon to guide them, pathfinder ships had to take the lead. Multiple hyperspace tunnelers had to be outfitted on each ship, each device good only for one trip. John had learned all this from the root way.

The human fleet destroyed the sensors and defense platforms as soon as they came within range. Images on the holo display aboard Dawn’s Early Light were choppy. Perhaps they had better visuals in the command center on the planet. The admirals rarely traveled with the fleets when defending a planet. With communication between the command center and the ships close to real time, the admirals didn’t have to. A few sensors slipped past the humans’ offensive, and the holograms became more constant. There must have been tens of thousands human ships in all. The size of their capital ships were easily several times larger than Dawn’s Early Light. They might have been big, but they were slow.

The elven fleet remained in Aroth’s orbit. They would choose the time and place of battle. With their ability of being able to enter the aether at any time and come out of it wherever they wanted, the elves held an overwhelming advantage. Though outnumbered and outgunned everyone in the Arbiters’ Bay was confident of victory.

“We’ll send those humans back to Oor with their tails between the legs.”

“Look at how bravely they come. Their retreat will be even more eye catching.”

“Their ships are so big to compensate for their rightful feelings of inferiority.”

John heard many such comments.

John spent most of his days in the Arbiters’ Bay watching the advancing human fleet. The lights aboard the ship remained red, warning everyone to be remain vigilant at all times. The light was quite disorienting at first, but he soon got used to it. Stealth infiltrators left the fleet to harass the invading force. The infiltrators jumped right into the midst of the enemy fleet and let all hell loose before vanishing and going back into the aether. One infiltrator was destroyed, but not before the infiltrators took down down three light cruisers and a battleship. John watched in awe as the battleship exploded from the inside and got rent in two. The red glow of heat radiated from the wreckage. It reminded John how fragile these ships really were. It was too easy to die in space. They were sitting adrift in space, in metal cans that could be so easily broken.

The human fleet soon came into range of the satellite fortress near the ninth planet of the system. This was when the elven fleet decided to act. The ship’s AI reminded John to head to the Arbiters’ Bay. Arbiters were already boarding Blade Dancers, ready to move at a moment’s notice. John joined his squad and boarded a Blade Dancer with them. His squad was relatively decent to him. They weren’t overtly hostile, they just ignored him.

A holographic display of the battlefield appeared in the center of the craft. The humans were launching a salvo of missiles at the shield generators on the satellite fortress. A few vulnerabilities were beginning to form in its defense. The elven fleet moved into the aether at that moment. In an hour they had reached a million miles away from the human fleet. The humans had detected them. They made a new formation. There was a lot of maneuvering of the two fleets that John did not understand. Missiles began to head towards the elves. Lightbringers began to place countermeasures and begin a battle of data with the human fleet. Drone carriers let loose their charges, each drone taking care of a missile. A few missiles still made it past the elven curtain, and one even hit Dawn’s Early Light. John felt a shudder pass through the ship. The AI warned him that there were fires in decks seven through thirteen and that measures were being taken.

The elves fired their main guns, light beams taking a few seconds to reach the spread out human fleet. A few ships were cut in half with the first round of firing. As the human fleet flew towards them, the elven fleet withdrew, staying just out of range of the humans’ main cannons. Beams of colored lights fired again and again, destroying a ship each time. The satellite fortress fired at the humans from the other side and the humans fired back. Missiles flew through space like a swarm of mosquitoes aimed at the elven fleet. A few elven ships went down, but the humans were suffering the most in this battle.

“It looks like the human fleet will be destroyed before we have a chance to board them,” one elf laughed.

“Don’t relax just yet,” said another elf. “The battle has only just begun.”

With a sudden burst of speed the human fleet moved forward. Human cruisers, corvettes and frigates came within the ship’s visual range. Red laser fire burnt through the hulls of ships. Banshees went to intercept while the elven fleet’s main guns kept firing at the battleships and capital ships behind.

“There are too many of them,” one of the elves said fearfully.

“We have always been outnumbered. Nothing has changed.”

The fleet jumped through the aether again, their engines now fully recharged. With their new formation the human’s quick offensive was easily stalled. The human frigates rejoined their fleet, hull plating falling off into space. John wondered how they’d patch it up, or if they could at all.

The squad leader’s eyes turned green. “I’m getting information from the command center. Humans have landed in Aroth. Human ground troops have begun an assault on our defensive structures.”

“How?” gasped one of the elves.

“They must have placed a hidden hyperspace beacon near the planet,” one of the elves laughed bitterly. “They used this big fleet as bait while the main attack force attacked the prize. I suspected something, seeing how easy this was.”

“How did their hyperspace beacon get past our sensors? Could the humans have developed superior stealth technology?”

“Impossible.”

“The better question is how did they get so many ships?”

“The human empires probably pooled their resources.”

The elven fleet kept fighting but it was clear that they prioritized escape, conserving their forces until they could move into the aether once more. The human fleet with a short jump through hyperspace suddenly made it into their midst.

“They hid another hyperspace beacon here. A trap within a trap. How are they doing this?”

“Get ready,” shouted the squad leader.

Blade dancers took off, evading missile and laser fire and dodging rail gun shells. A few blade dancers went down but the majority made it to their targets. The tips of the craft drilled into the hull of the human capital ship and then opened out. John followed the other elves into the human ship. Hundreds of arbiters of the balance slaughtered their way to the main reactor room at the heart of the human ship, placing explosive charges around the reactors. John slayed humans in uniform as though he was reaping a field. They died too easily. None of the humans they encountered were proper marines. The humans had not expected their ship to be boarded. The elves half ran half phased their way back to the Blade Dancers, ignoring human opposition, and left. The capital ship exploded, the Blade Dancers shaking violently from the aftershock. The operation went as smoothly as it could have.