Six standard hours later, the Imperial detachment fleet reached the far side of Sa'cea.
Two Retribution-class Battle Barges and four Moonblade-class Strike Cruisers slipped slowly into low orbit over Sa'cea's far side, like six silent steel leviathans. Below them lay a region untouched by the war.
Most of the people there did not even know that Imperial troops had landed on the other side of Sa'cea. All they had heard from official news broadcasts were vague reports such as, "The fighting at the front is fierce, but our forces are resisting heroically."
Until the sky changed color.
Sa'cea, underground Core Command Center.
It lay three thousand meters beneath Sa'cea's surface, encased in dozens of layers of reinforced alloy and energy shields. Even if an Imperial Macro-cannon scored a direct hit on the surface, its shock wave would be little more than a faint tremor by the time it reached this place.
Yet now, the atmosphere inside the fortress was more suffocating than the bombardment above.
On the enormous holographic screen, the icons of city after city were turning from blue to gray, then black, at a despair-inducing pace. Each black icon represented a city's utter destruction, the loss of millions of lives.
"City of Harmony... communications lost."
"Light of the Enlightener... communications lost."
"Bridge of Unity... communications lost."
The Communications Officer's voice grew quieter and shakier, until it became a mechanical, emotionless repetition. If he invested any feeling in every name, he would go mad.
Ethereal Aun'Ve stood at the center of the command dais, both hands braced against its cold metal surface. His face was ashen, and the diamond-shaped crystal on his forehead gave off a dim glow.
"Report on the front."
"The humans have breached the northern hemisphere's third defensive line," a Fire Caste staff officer reported