Even the Chosen, Fanatic Purifiers that they were, could not help feeling fear when they heard that their most important refinery Gaia Planet had been utterly destroyed.
But endless rage and hatred followed.
That Gaia Planet bestowed upon the Xarenoi by their god... a fully developed refinery world covered in Exotic Gas Refineries, Crystals Fabricators, and Chemical Plants... tens of billions slaughtered, every building bombarded into rubble by ships in orbit, the planetary environment utterly ruined...
How could such devastation, such a horrific price, not enrage them?
Burning with fury over the destruction of their home, the Chosen fleet abandoned the fighting at the front, gathered almost their entire Main Fleet, and rushed toward the Federation's End system.
The Starfish on the front lines could scarcely believe that the Chosen had simply withdrawn. Soon afterward, however, their own intelligence network brought them the good news that the pirates had pulled off a massive heist in the Isomer Cluster.
The Starfish expressed their sincere gratitude to these specialists in transferring other people's wealth, who had so bravely resisted the Fanatic Purifier Chosen. Then, feasting on hot pot and singing songs, they followed behind the Chosen fleet and reclaimed every occupied system.
The Chosen fleet moved incredibly fast. Although they had yet to develop Jump Drives, they pushed their Impulse Thrusters to Dark Matter Thruster speeds through sheer determination, a testament to their urgency.
They successfully trapped the pirates who had failed to withdraw in time inside the Isomer Cluster.
Or rather, it was not that they could not flee, but that there was no longer any point. The Chosen had already locked onto their positions, and pirate ships could not outrun elite Chosen battleships.
The pirates had not expected the Chosen to respond so quickly, but they were not overly worried.