The Spymaster contacted John a few minutes after his call with Sor Al, warning him of the impending invasion. John immediately informed Spiz and set certain preplanned protocols into action. Hidden defenses around the command center began to warm up. John watched on the screen as Spiz surreptitiously led commandos to different sections of the city. They would stay hidden until the invaders made their move. A group of commandos entered the command center and saluted John as soon as they saw him. They were all loyal to the Empress, and the only people John could trust with this operation. John commanded them to man their posts as he activated surveillance droids. These droids were the size of mosquitoes. They were shaped like insects and would go around unnoticed. The invaders probably wouldn’t have good enough sensors to detect such things. Their equipment had to be smuggled in at great cost. John had seized one such shipment and the weapons and armor were substandard. The only advantage the invaders thought they held was surprise.

John had been preparing for this ever since the Empress had warned him. She was a shrewd lady, and he had taken all her warnings seriously. He wanted to catch all the disguised invaders in one fell swoop. John and his people waited for half an hour before they heard the first sounds of gunfire. The invaders were trying to capture the garage and the few war machines John had bought. They hadn’t realized that there were people already inside the war machines waiting for them. He heard the distinctive sound of the rail gun through his tiny surveillance drone’s microphone and saw his enemies get torn apart. The few regular people in the office with John wondered what was going on. A lady screamed as she looked at the screens, but everyone else was deathly quiet.

“Enemy soldiers have appeared in John city,” John announced on the public announcement system. “They will soon be dealt with. Stay where you are and you’ll be safe.”

A larger group of the Viscount’s invasion force was heading towards the communications center. The commandos hidden there fired at the invaders from within the building. They had cover, and the enemy didn’t. It was easy to tell who the victor would be. John switched his view to another drone. He watched as a hundred people armed with laser rifles came to the command center, and tried to blow open the door with explosives. John activated the hidden defenses. Gun turrets tore through the front lawn and opened fire on the unsuspecting group. Half their number were killed in a matter of seconds.

An explosion tore through the main door of the command center a moment later. John and his men took their positions. He signaled his commandos to get ready. He chained lightning and zapped the first few people running through the entrance. His commandos opened fire. They were quick and clean, wasting very little ammunition. When their enemies got close, the commandos took out their melee weapons and cut through the Viscount’s invading force. They were so well trained that it looked like a synchronized dance to the song of screams and slashes.

The people in the command center looked on in horror as they rushed out of their offices to see what was happening.

“Stay at your desks,” John shouted, his voice magnified by aura. People were always curious no matter how much they were warned.

John killed the last invader with a bolt of wind through his helmet. The helmet shattered into many pieces and so did his head. John then activated a city wide announcement for a curfew.

“Enemies have tried to seize John City. Everyone will stay indoors for the next eight hours. You will comply with any soldiers asking to search your premises. Don’t wander about till then.”

John had a list of suspects. He immediately gathered all his guardsmen together, the ones who weren’t fighting on the wall, and organized them into search units. He transferred digital maps to their HUDs. A few houses were marked with the names of people to be detained. They would be questioned by Spiz later. His hypnosis was a wonderful interrogation tool.

“Baron,” he received a call from his chief of communications. “Three frigates and a cruiser just emerged at our hyperspace beacon.”

The Empress had said that the invasion force wouldn’t fire at him from space. Had she been wrong? John was prepared for this as well. He’d initially built surface to space batteries to deal with any more warlocks that wanted to reach the planet. The military batteries were scattered all over the planet and were enough to deal with a fleet of battleships let alone this small force.

“Tell the fleet commander to monitor them from out of shooting range,” John ordered. “Send their cruiser a message to immediately cease and desist from moving towards Fi. Any further advance they make will be treated as hostile action.”

He called his artillery commander, “Get the batteries ready. There’s a fleet approaching to test our missiles.”

“A wonderful opportunity,” said the commander. He was a bit of a joker. “We were just thinking of testing Battery 32’s capabilities.”

John rushed to the command center. He wanted to watch the Viscount’s ships get blown up as soon as it happened. There was nothing quite like crushing one’s enemies. He needed a good view.

“Baron,” the comms commander called him. “The Viscount of Amar’s fleet commander is requesting to talk to you.”

“Link me in.”

A smart looking man appeared on the screen, dressed in a blue naval uniform. “Baron Fi,” the man smiled pleasantly. “It is truly a surprise to see how young you are!”

“What are you doing in my star system?” John asked. “I didn’t give you permission to be here.”

“We heard there was some trouble on your planet and came to help. We’ll deploy our men to take care of it.”

“Your news is a little out of date,” John laughed. “All the troublemakers are dead. How did you get this information? It takes a week to travel to Fi from Amar.”

“We were in the neighborhood when we got a distress call. One of your citizens must have activated it.”

“Everything’s okay now. You can go.”

“It is best to make sure. Fi is a big planet. They could be hiding anywhere. It would be best to have more soldiers on the ground for the time being until the situation has eased. There is the problem of the Winter Monsters as well. You must have your hands full.”

“The situation has already eased. Get lost or we’ll open fire.”

“Open fire with what? Your little fleet of ships?”

The Viscount’s fleet commander ended the transmission.

John grinned. He had given them a chance, but they hadn’t taken it. It was time to show the galaxy that Fi was no sitting duck.

“Let them come closer,” he told his artillery commander, watching the positions of the Viscount’s fleet.

“They will be in launching distance soon.” Transport craft usually only carried their elite soldiers in Oor. Other soldiers were launched from space in capsules. A large number of decoy capsules were also launched in order to confuse the enemy. There were thrusters on the capsule, allowing it to change direction in the air and land softly.

“But they will not be launching soon enough. Fire in twenty seconds.”

A few hundred missiles launched out of silos, some carrying nuclear warheads, their trajectory directed by the satellites orbiting his planet. The Viscount’s fleet tried to take countermeasures but they came too late. The missiles destroyed the ships turning them into scrap metal. John felt that the artillery commander had overdone it a little. This was clearly overkill.

Half an hour later, he was called again by his comms commander. “Baron, the Empress has established a communications link with us.”

“Put her Majesty on the screen.”

The Empress appeared, looking as distant as ever. “Wild Child. You seem to be more capable than I imagined. The Viscount is probably going to demand compensation.”

“He won’t get it. His commander was warned not to approach any closer. I have it all recorded.”

“Just pay him what he asks. You make a million credits a month nowadays. You can afford it.”

“Why should I? It was his fault.”

“It doesn’t matter whose fault it was. He will use this as an excuse to move against you in the open. It is better not to risk war over a little money. This will buy you some much needed time.”

“I will soon have proof of the Viscount of Amar’s plot. I have captured some of his agents.”

“That will not be enough.”

The Empress ended the transmission without waiting for a reply. She probably couldn’t say all that much in public. His people in the command center had all been watching the conversation intently. They rarely saw the Empress.

How could an empire function like this? Did the Empress hold no control over her nobles. John was pissed off. He kicked the wall and then went to see how the interrogations were going. Maybe that would cheer him up.