Yvian awoke to flashing red lights and a blaring alarm. She reached for the wrist console sitting on the small nightstand next to her bunk. No messages. The time was 0332 hours. She activated the console's comm. "Can somebody tell me what The Crunch is going on?"

Captain Mims answered. His voice held the cold, professional calm that meant trouble. "Better if you see for yourself. Come to the bridge."

Yvian let out a breath. She was briefly tempted to shut off the alarms and go back to sleep. She knew that she couldn't. The Captain wouldn't be waking everyone up if it wasn't important. She grumbled curses under her breath as she climbed into her voidarmor as quickly as she could. Mims hadn't said they were in immediate danger, but that was no reason to dawdle.

Helmet secured, Yvian started to run. Lissa came out of her room, saw Yvian, and broke into a jog behind her. They reached the bridge quickly. The Encounter wasn't a big ship, and their bunks weren't far from the bridge.

Mims, Scarrend, and Kilroy were already there, clustered around the holodisplay. The display had been split up into four sections, each showing a different sector of Vrrl space. All four sectors were swarming with Federation ships.

"The attack started ten minutes ago," Mims reported. "They're hitting Metalfang, Blood Forge, Deathworld, and Starfang itself. Eight hundred million ships so far, and they're still coming out of the Gates."

"Crunch." Yvian stared for a moment. Vrrl ships were mixed in, fighting the humans. They looked... outnumbered. The Vrrl Starfang Empire was a major power. Not as strong as the humans, maybe, but a significant force be reckoned with. "Where are the rest of the Vrrl?"

"Dead." Scarrend growled. "The Empire has no counter for shield piercing technology, and we have no MACdrivers of our own. The humans have already wiped out most of our defense force."

"That's why I called you two here," Mims addressed the pixens. "The Empire needs help and they need it now. The question is, what can we afford to send?"

"What are the stakes?" Lissa asked. "What happens if the humans take these sectors?"

"The Empire will fall." Scarrend spoke firmly. "Metalfang and Bloodforge are where we build most of our ships. Deathworld and Starfang are our last two remaining worlds, and Starfang is the seat of our government. Losing any of these sectors would be a crippling blow."

"Everything." Yvian gave a sharp nod. The others looked at her. "We send everything. We can't afford to let the Vrrl fall."

"Yvian." Mims gave her a look. "Have you learned a single thing I've tried to teach you this last couple years?"

"Ok. not literally everything," Yvian corrected herself, "But all we need to defend New Pixa is the Stingers and the Queenships, right? We could send everything else."

"Negative." Kilroy's eyes were purple with worry. "We do not have enough Peacekeeper pilots to fly all available ships. We can deploy a maximum of Eight million, two hundred thousand, seven hundred and two without compromising other operations."

"Do it," said Mims. "But keep enough units to initiate Operation BACKLINE."

"Affirmative." Kilroy's eyes flashed combat red. "Initiate Operation BACKLINE?"

"Damn right," said the human. "Let's hit them where it hurts."

"Affirmative." The Peacekeeper didn't move. Yvian knew he was transmitting. "Operation BACKLINE initiated. Peacekeeper units will also arrive to reinforce the Vrrl in twelve minutes, forty three seconds."

"Will that be enough?" Lissa asked. "They'll be outnumbered a hundred to one."

"Depends," said the human. "Scarrend, what kind of reinforcements can the Empire field?"

The Vrrl gave a frustrated rumble. "Not much. We're still recovering from our last war with the humans, and a third of our fleets were lost when the Vore took Histel. Warmaster Sithis will be lucky if she can muster four hundred million ships."

"Not enough." Mims swore. "We've been at war for barely a day and we're already fucking losing."

"It's gribshit," Lissa agreed.

"We've got the ships," Yvian mourned. "We just don't have enough people to fly them."

The human's gaze shot over to Yvian. "Enough people..." His eyes went wide. "Scarrend, can you get in touch with Warnaster Sithis?"

"Warmaster Sithis won't have time to take our comm." Scarrend tilted his head. "But Warmaster Scathach might." He detached his comm pad from his armor, typed into it with two hands, then handed it to Mims.

The Warmaster accept the comm. "Scarrend. Speak quickly. I'm in combat."

"It's Mims. I'll be brief. We're sending reinforcements, but they won't be enough." The human's mouth was struggling to smile, but he kept his voice professional. "If we want to turn this around, I need enough pilots to fly..." He looked at Kilroy.

The Peacekeeper unit leaned closer to the pad. "Ten million battlecruisers, two million destroyers, two million nine hundred thousand frigates, five million carriers, and one hundred ninety one million fighter class vessels."

"Thank you, Kilroy." The Captain continued, "The Federation handed us a fleet the last time they were here. We don't have the people to use it."

"But we do." Yvian could hear the Warmaster's vicious grin. "Send your ships to the East Gate of Empire's Edge. We'll have them in the fray within the hour."

"We'll get them there," said the human, "but we'll have to send them manually. That'll delay our reinforcements. The Peacekeepers won't be there for another..." He looked at Kilroy.

"Thirty one minutes, forty seven seconds," the machine provided.

"Acceptable," Scathach assured him. "We'll hold until then. Scathach out."

Mims handed the pad back to Scarrend. He stared down at it for a moment, then said, "Thank you." He looked up. "Thank all of you."

Mims shrugged. "We're allies. It goes both ways."

Yvian clapped a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright, Scar." She didn't know that was true, but it was something the Vrrl needed to here. "We won't let the Empire down."

"Coming from you, I almost believe it." Scarrend shook his head. "The humans have bested us again and again. I fear they'll show no mercy if they defeat us again."

"They won't," Lissa assured him. "We won't let it happen."

"It is not your choice to make," Kilroy told her. "The outcome will be determined by Scarrend's fellow meatbags."

"Really, Kilroy?" Yvian gave the machine an annoyed look. The Vrrl was frowning at the unit as well, looking even more worried than when he started out. So much for reassuring the guy. "Whatever happened to we will be sufficient?"

"We have always been sufficient." Kilroy stated it as a matter of fact. "The question is if the Vrrl can learn to be sufficient as well."

Scarrend eyed the machine a moment longer, then slowly nodded. "Learn to be sufficient..." He ran three hands through his mane. "I suppose that's why we joined you in the first place." His eyes narrowed at the display as his people fought for their lives. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his nostrils. He straightened, raising his muzzle. "You are right, Peacekeeper. Our fate will be in our own hands."

"This unit hopes they prove sufficient." Kilroy tipped his hat at the Vrrl. "The Vrrl Starfang Empire has been a thorn in humanity's paw. This unit would see that continue."

"Was that..." Scarrend furrowed his brow. "Was that a compiment?"

"Don't push it, meatbag."

"Moving on," said Mims. "Kilroy, how is operation BACKLINE progressing?"

"Fifty Gladiator class units successfully deployed at each Federation Gate," Kilroy reported. "All units were destroyed, but the payload has been launched."

"Payload?" Yvian asked.

"The Federation's SHIELDBREACH weapons give them a huge advantage," Mims told her. "The only defense against a MACdriver is getting out of the way." His head tilted. "Hold on a sec." He started typing into his wrist console. He continued, "The thing is, we've got them, too. And stations aren't very mobile."

Yvian blinked. "You mean..."

Mims continued to type. "Federation space has a ton of imbedded defense, mostly in the form of beam towers. Stage one of BACKLINE is taking out those towers and any ships too close to dodge. It means sacrificing a couple thousand Peacekeeper units, but there's no other way."

"The units will be remembered," Kilroy stated. "We will construct a monument out of the remains of our enemies once the humans have been destroyed."

"You mean their ships, right?" Lissa asked.

Kilroy said nothing.

"You mean their ships, right?" Lissa asked again.

Kilroy said nothing. His eyes flashed yellow before going back to red.

"Anyway," Mims moved right along, "it'll take about three hours, but the MAC rounds will take out every weapons platform within a hundred thousand kilometers of the Gate."

"A counter invasion?" Scarrend raised all three eyebrows. "I didn't think we had the personnel for such a thing."

"We don't." Mims admitted. "What we do have are a hundred thousand YEET artillery barges."

"Crunch." Yvian swore as she got the gist.

"Crunch is right," said the Captain. "A YEET can fling a half ton slug at eighty kilometers a second. More than enough to smash a station. We're going to turn every mine, shipyard, and manufacturing hub in the Federation into debris."

"We are also sterilizing their planets," Kilroy asserted.

"No we're not." Mims scowled at the Peacekeeper. "We can't stop YEET rounds, either. If we nuke a planet they'll do the same to New Pixa. Tell Zhukov not to let that happen."

"What's to stop them from blowing up our stations?" Yvian asked.

"Nothing," said the Captain. "That's why we've got Movers set up. Any YEETs show up here, we can pull our stations out of the line of fire." He finished typing. "Done."

"What were you doing?" Lissa asked.

"Sending an N-mail to our science teams." Mims told her. "Countering SHIELDBREACH is their new top priority."

Yvian blinked. "We have science teams?"

"The task force King Tallest sent us," Lissa reminded her. "Plus those captured humans from the Last Hope." She frowned. "Did you say tungsten?"

"A bunch of Vrrl engineers, too," Mims added. "And Peacekeeper units to run calculations and keep them all from killing each other." He turned to Lissa. "And yeah, I said tungsten."

"Tungsten's not magnetic." Her frown deepened.

"So?"

"MAC rounds are fired by magnetic accelerators." Yvian forgot sometimes that Lissa was an engineer.

"So?"

"So how does that work?" Lissa sounded annoyed. "How can you use magnets to shoot nonferrous material?"

"How should I know?" Mims shrugged. "I kill things for a living."

"SHIELDBREACH technology magnetizes the rounds," Kilroy informed her. The Peacekeeper unit turned to the Captain. "Peacekeeper unit Admiral Ender Zhukov acknowledged your instructions. Peacekeeper unit Admiral Ender Zhukov also asked this unit to remind you that you have been prohibited from joining the battle."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Mims folded his arms. "Can't coordinate with Peacekeepers and we're too important to risk." He grimaced. Then he looked sharply at the machine. "Did he say that just to rub it in?"

"Affirmative." Kilroy's eyes flashed yellow. "You have spoiled the fun of Peacekeeper units. This unit was instructed to spoil your fun in turn."

"I thought Peacekeeper units were too superior for petty revenge," the human quipped.

"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "Petty vengeance is for meatbags. Peacekeeper units know that revenge is a dish best served repeatedly and in excess." His eyes flashed yellow again. "Isn't that right, Big Daddy Mims?"