Page 12 of Fate of Draga

He couldn’t see her face, but the pause told him everything. She was terrified even if she would never let it show. “Ready to receive,” she said. Not a single word wavered.

Asher rattled off the key and then was silent as he held his sister’s gaze. “I will do what I can to preserve as many of our numbers as possible, but…we will not be retreating. Our armies are useless if we cannot reach you. When this battle is done we will send another cast to update on the current situation.”

He did not tell her he would be the one to send her the update, because Asher wasn’t entirely sure he would survive this battle as another royal warship crumbled and burned before him, just behind Adelina’s holo.

She understood. Adelina’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly as she took that in, but she nodded without protest. Adelina didn’t try to talk him out of it, or tell him to be safe because right now she was his queen.

Not his sister.

And Draga needed his forces at the Kharan border. Their personal relationship didn’t matter in that moment and Asher checked the seal on his armor – ensuring everything was in the right place.

“May your hunt end in blood and victory,” Adelina murmured before she ended the transmission.

Asher selected theRavagerand all the privateers over the fleet-cast. “Captain Delphine is now in command of the privateer legion. Break through the enemy lines and follow the orders already given.” The orders their queen had given before this disaster.

They could not afford to fail if Princess Kaita were to have any chance of succeeding.

Delphine would fly to the Corinthian Princess and assist her in quietly infiltrating Khara. But first Asher needed them to barrel through enemy lines to cause enough chaos that his ships could tear down the confused Neprijat, just as they were currently doing to his own forces.

“As you command,” Delphine said over the fleet-cast. “Everyone to me!”

Asher watched as the privateers formed…an arrow. They would be a battering ram through the Neprijat lines and he had to be prepared. “Captain, you have command of theRosanera. I will be in my fighter, issuing further commands from there.” He activated his helmet and made sure he was on the Draga Royal Army’s fleet-cast channel.

Every ship of his from largest to smallest, whether manned by one warrior or millions, would be able to hear him and follow his orders. This battle would require every single person to be at their best – for them all to work together as one like they’d trained their whole lives to do.

It took mere moments for him to reach his fighter. It was already prepped and ready to go. Asher hauled himself up as he mentally filtered through every battle and war he’d ever studied. Based on the numbers constantly flowing through his gauntlet they were losing.

Therehadto be a way for him to turn the tide of this battle.

“I want everyone split down the middle,” he said. “Everyone in the east quadrant get ready for Delphine and her legion to break through. Veri you’re in command. Then circle around those Neprijat forces and take them out. Same with the west quadrant which I will lead. Take out what you can and the Scyrian Army will mop up the rest.”

Sirus agreed as did the others.

It was a solid plan, but the Neprijat could still overpower them. The difference between their tech and weapons was less than it had been, but it was still better than what Draga currently possessed.

Asher could see the ships on his dash as they moved into formation, but the Neprijat caught on too quickly. They took out the largest ships first, going down the line. And Asher gritted his teeth as he took off, navigating into space to protect theRoyal Rosanera.

The worldbreakers on the ships that were going down were launched at the enemy before they exploded in the ship while under attack, and took out their own forces. It was one of the orders he’d given weeks ago that had bile rising in his throat as he watched it come to fruition.

It was all they could do to keep the destruction to a minimum.

Asher had ordered all worldbreakers launched, and then those who could make it to the escape pods should do so. They would have a small chance of surviving the battlefield, but the med ships would pick them up and move them behind the front lines when they could.

Watching as that was exactly what the second largest ship in his fleet did as it went down…Asher felt a mixture of pride and horror. They’d done the maneuver perfectly as they’d practiced, but still so many lives had been lost.

He warned the fleet to protect the med ships as they started to move through the ranks of fighters and warships with their own small legion of fighters to guard them.

His fleet tried to maneuver as he’d ordered, but it was complete chaos.

Asher had to decide now whether to order a retreat, or to have them fight each enemy ship until none remained…and potentially none of their own. These Neprijat knew…they knew this was it by whatever orders they had and they didn’t hold back. They didn’t care how many fighters or ships they lost because their orders were to keep the Draga Royal Army from advancing to the border.

No matter how costly.

And each Neprijat would sacrifice their ship to take out as many Dragans as possible.

What could he do against that sort of reckless attack?

He took out fighter after fighter – bursting through the wreckage and fire before attacking another and another as his mind raced—as Delphine and her legion of pirates arrowed through the battlefield to shatter the Neprijat lines.

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