From Rosie's files

A Convoy, in the sense of space travel, is the combination of multiple fleets in the pursuit of a single goal. The first one was the Genesis Convoy in the Mid 21 Century, consisting of three fleets: Adam Fleet, Eve Fleet, and Eden Fleet. The purpose of the Convoy was to map out the Galaxy outside of the Orion Spur.

.  .  .

Scar
Polaris Station
5 Hours Ago

I ditched the Tri Orion Alliance almost immediately.

Yeah, I know. Who would go through all that to take them a message, and wouldn't even stick around for the fallout?

Me.

I absolutely would.

I am not particularly fond of being used as a propaganda machine.

What I wasn't expecting was to get scooped up by a bunch of space pirates on a bunch of rings around a white supergiant.

.  .  .

They herded me to the bridge immediately after (quite forcefully—I didn't make it easy) pulling me from the Jellie II.

Then they personally introduced me to their Commander, and everything flipped on its head.

He was a massive guy, wearing a slick black suit of armor that almost reminded me of Wels's. He had a black hood, however, and a black fur cape like an old English knight. He even had the all-black (of course) cross-handed sword hanging in a, you guessed it, black scabbard. He had broad shoulders even without the thick shoulder pads, as well as a barrel chest and bulging biceps that made it look like he bench-pressed starships. His face was etched with the stress marks of a thousand battles, worn down by an endless torrent of time, pain, and suffering. I had seen the same look in Xisuma, and, every now and again, TFC.

He barely looked up from the holographic battle map he was examining, muttering something to his officers. Then he turned to me.

"You must be Legend. You've caused quite a bit of galactic drama over the past week." He said. He had a strange blend of an American and French accent.

"I am. What do you want?" I asked sharply.

The Commander laughed.

"We've been waiting to head to Hermitcraft until you showed up. I was good friends with Xisuma." He explained. "My name is Rat."

That rattled me into silence.

After a quick nod, Rat turned back to his officers.

"Tell the Gearheads to start up the engines. Get the fleet mobilized and call in every single favor Polaris Station has and tell them that we're all heading to Hermitcraft in defense of the Hermits, and remember to provide them the coordinates this time, Lux." He said. One of the officers sighed with frustration and marched off.

Then I frowned.

"What engines? This is a star." I asked curiously.

Rat turned to me with a wicked grin that immediately reminded me of Grian and his "weekend ideas."

"We've never been able to access the full station, but we've been at it for generations. And our friend Etho finally cracked it and gave us complete access and control over the entire station." He said.

I processed the mention of Etho with a jolt. Last time I had seen him, he had been bleeding out at the edge of the Perimeter.

"But what do you mean by ENGINES?" I insist, not acknowledging it.

Rat just gave me a knowing smile.

"FTL travel for Polaris, Mr. Legend. FTL for the biggest Dyson's Cannon in the Galaxy."

.  .  .
Pearl
Hermitcraft System
Present

Gigacorp quickly put their collective three brain cells together after a while and realized that they outnumbered us ten thousand to one. Our only advantage was the shield projector and the fact that we were desperate to survive. As a result of all of those factors, we lost a grand total of three Lazarus cruisers and one carrier. Not many in numbers, but devastating loses nonetheless.

"Pearl. Step aside and let me take over for a while." Tango told me gently after a while. I waved him off.

"I'm fine." I insisted, resisting a yawn. The fatigue of non-stop battle was getting to me.

"You've been at it for almost twelve hours, kiddo. Get a nap or something. You won't miss the whole war. Anyways, most of your Unbroken buddies already went to bed." He insisted calmly.

That jolted me to attention.

Twelve hours?

"Ok." I said softly, starting to slip out of the chair. Gigacorp had been holding off the past thirty minutes, and nothing said that they would start up again any time soon. We had taken out a lot of ships today. All their chatter was little movement tidbits as well as casual chats between ships.

A sudden burst of panicked shouting from Gigacorp caught my attention. I immediately sat back down as it cut out into static. Nervous chatter followed.

"Someone get me coffee." I ordered. Tango sighed in exasperation, but wisely sat back down.

"...Hermitheus? Were we expecting any extra guests?" The Overlord asked nervously.

Fear gripped my heart. What could scare him, in his Drauger?

"Not that I'm aware of, no. Where are they?" I asked.

"Few degrees to your port. I..." He trailed off, in shock.

"Five degrees to port!" I barked.

We rotated.

And my jaw dropped.

A massive fleet of mismatched ships, like the Lazarus fleet but without the common symbol, has just jumped out of FTL and started fighting Gigacorp. But the most surprising part of all was the white Supergiant following them. As I watched, the three rings rotated into one thick band.

My computer identified it as Polaris A.

"Hail, Lazarus and company! I am Commander Rat of Polaris Fleet, a friend to Hermitcraft and Xisuma! We humbly request the formation of a Convoy with you." Rat's voice came.

"It would be our honor, my friend." The Overlord replied.

I almost cried in relief. If that had kept up for much longer, we probably would have been massacred within the week.

A sudden, random memory occurred to me. Something Command has said.

"Someone get me in contact with Ivan Strongwinter." I ordered as Joe hurried over with a cup of coffee. I took a deep drink, flipping another screen over into my direct vision.

Ivan appeared on it a moment later, and my eyes went wide again.

He was barking orders from what looked like a cushioned throne, wearing a traditional suit of Severnyy armor, a red cape, and a shiny golden crown.

"Ivan!" I yelled. He flinched, quickly turning. A massive smile broke out on his face.

"Pearl! It's good to see you in one piece. I take it you are in need of backup?" He said.

I nodded.

"The Polaris guys just got here, with Polaris Station, but we can honestly use all the help we can get." I said. Ivan briefly turned his head, barking a few orders in Severnyy before turning back to me. His grin grew even wider.

"Xisuma's original plan called for the Severnyy-buk to take to the fleets. We were not anticipating the entire Severnyy military, regardless of subspecies, to rally. Especially not behind me. We are coming, Mladshaya-sestra." Ivan said.

Then he was gone.

Little Sister. That's what he had called me. Not Volchitsa, not Pearl. Sister. It was a great honor among the Severnyy to name someone brother or sister. A big lump, like the one after the salute Masha given me, formed in my throat.

Then, on another monitor, a new fleet of unknown identification appeared.

The Severnyy had arrived.

And they wanted blood.

. . .

I quickly got my first good look at the new Severnyy ships.

There seemed to be two classes of ships, one with a flat front and one with almost a diagonal blade in the front. Both crackled with blue electricity. They all were painted a matte white and light grey, very sleek, and all seemed to carry fighters. They were also bristling with an insane amount of cannons.

As I watched, the blade-tipped destroyers moved in front of the flat faced ones and it didn't take very long for me to find out what they were for.

Like an axe, the bladed ships sliced forwards in an arc, slamming through the surprised Gigacorp ships and their shields, cutting through the cruisers like a hot knife through butter.

I pulled up the battlefield map. The Polaris fleet had started forwards as well, with both the Severnyy and them moving towards us. Gigacorp ships scattered, and whichever ones didn't were annihilated.

For the first time today, I felt a spark of hope that this could work.

"Retract the shield station! Four-Point Formation!" The Overlord barked, being kind enough to transmit the formation to me.

Polaris Fleet and the Severnyy broke through, leaving us a clear path to Polaris Station. They joined up with the formation.

"This is King Strongwinter of Karnvas Fleet, formerly requesting to join the Convoy." Ivan said. Me, The Overlord, and Rat confirmed it. I didn't ask, but smiled anyways. Ivan was going to make an amazing king.

"Unbroken Convoy: we must defend Polaris Station. Confirm?" The Overlord said. Another small smile broke out on my face at the name.

"Confirmed, Kraken. Hermitheus is ready and on the move." I said, flipping through battle data as I drank from my coffee. The caffeine hit immediately, jolting me awake again.

"Hermitheus, permission to transfer a permanent crew aboard? We have plenty waiting for our new factories to pump their own ships out." A new, familiar voice from Polaris said.

"Of course." I said, straining my brain to remember who it was.

Luckily, I didn't have to.

"Etho?! Is that you, you fox-tailed, maple syrup-sucking son of a bitch? I thought you were dead, man!" Tango exclaimed.

I smiled even wider at Etho's laugh.

"To Gem's disappointment, I got better." He responded.

"I said sorry, smartass!" Gem snapped in the background. Etho laughed again.

"We'll give the order, Hermitheus. Only the best available. Good luck, Hermits." Etho said, then he was gone.

The Unbroken Convoy pushed forwards, more determined than ever.

.  .  .

And on the other side of the Galaxy, Therllyria had fallen. The entire planet was gone. Wrath of the Milky Way had made quick work of the entire system and drove their armies apart. The Milky Way Fleet had split into two halves, taking Fort Asgard as well.

The Great Empire was no more.

As the Milky Way Fleet moved to recombine and march to back up the Andromeda Fleet at Hermitcraft, the universe continued to contract and leave the Milky Way as the sole Galaxy within.

Time was running out.

And the Galaxy didn't even know.

.  .  .

From Rosie's files

Fort Asgard is the technical marvel of the Tri Orion Alliance. The fort is an entire solar system of nine planetary bodies, built for fueling the alliance. It's like a game within the alliance on who holds the High Seat, originally created by Samuel the Great. It is currently in the hands of Therllyria.

If the Alliance sends Fort Asgard after you, you know you f**ked up.

.  .  .

Just because we haven't had memes in a while: