"All the M'tok Union's ships-over two hundred military vessels, including at least thirty destroyers-have begun gathering at the border. They're expected to launch an all-out assault on us in six months."
At a summit of the Three-Nation Alliance's leaders shortly afterward, Krogg, the Supreme Shieldwarden of the Nier Guardians, delivered the report with casual indifference.
"Holy shit, that's at least 20K fleet power by interstellar standards!" The alien turtle bro was in no particular hurry, but Xi Yan jumped in alarm.
"Ah, little Yan, you know fleet power isn't everything. We've deployed large numbers of defense stations in every system. They can retake their old territory, but they can forget about pushing into my own territory unless they want to go down with us."
Krogg, however, seemed supremely confident.
Wasn't this just turning an offensive war into a defensive one?
And if it was a defensive war, what was there to fear?
"If you're that confident, then I can stop worrying." Xi Yan rubbed his head.
"Of course. We'll all be counting on your help with what comes next," Senka Vanye added.
Xi Yan frowned, looking disgruntled. "I'm turning into a master of rear-end ambushes."
"Isn't hitting them from behind satisfying?"
"Well, that's true."
"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you."
Xi Yan sat up straight and projected a starmap.
The bird and the turtle looked over curiously.
It was a complete starmap of the XT-489 Extermination Unit, with a new nation squeezed into a tiny cluster in the lower-right corner.
"Is this... a starmap of the Determined Exterminators?!" Mr. Vanye, Chief Coordinator of the Zirick Cooperative, exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"
"This is a huge help, though it's not much use to me." Krogg smiled and touched Xi Yan with his thick foreleg, but did not