Runir didn't need to be told twice, as she was already pissed that all their work before the transition went down the drain.
Now, with Andrew's permission, she was planning to teach them a lesson they won't forget.
Her fleet jumped out as soon as she had given the order.
With her new flagship, they were four thousand ships strong, and everyone wanted a piece of the enemy for their betrayal.
As soon as Runir's fleet arrived, the incoming vessels tried to open communications.
-Ignore them, and get us into the firing range.
The admiral ordered.
Her ship was the first within the firing range as it had more range than any other vessel in the entire imperial navy.
-Open fire, target cruisers first, destroyers second.
The moment the order left her mouth, the powerful energy weapons of the battleship came to life.
The first salvo took almost four seconds to reach the target, but the moment it did, the cruiser was cut in half, from stem to stern, before exploding.
Its shields were useless against the firepower of the first battleship it came across.
A moment later, another cruiser shared its fate, then another and another, each one a bit faster than the previous one as the unstoppable warship closed the distance.
At two light seconds, the rest of the imperial fleet joined in.
Their weapons, not nearly as powerful as their flagships, but with a few hits, they also did the job.
Seeing the imperial forces ignore their communications and decimate their front lines, the enemy commanders started to panic.
Especially terrifying for them was the battleship, which they could do nothing about as their own fire was absorbed by its shields, with ease.
Without a unified command, the enemy fleet started to fall into disarray, with some ships trying to escape, while others returned fire.
What had broken their morale and fighting spirit, however, was the number of the imperial ships, outnumbering them four to one, and the technological disparity, as the traitors' fleet had only a few tier five cruisers at its disposal, and they had become the primary target for the imperial fleet.
What the enemy fleet didn't know was that the worst was yet to come.
The imperial fleet rushed at the enemy, decimating them as they went, then, as the fleets were barely 200,000 kilometers apart, and the slaughter of the traitors was in full swing, the imperial ships launched their new torpedoes.
Some were shot down, others missed their targets, thanks to the quick maneuvers of the ship's captains.
However, more than 70% hit their mark, bypassing the shields entirely as they were designed to do, before slamming into the enemy ships and exploding.
Every frigate or corvette-class ship was simply obliterated by even one of the weapons.
The destroyers took two to three hits, but even one left them heavily damaged, while cruisers could survive up to nine hits before succumbing.
In a matter of a minute, over 40% of the remaining enemy fleet was wiped out, and the rest soon followed as the imperial vessels didn't stop attacking even for a moment.
The whole battle lasted for around two hours, from when Runir's ship opened fire to the moment the remains of the enemy fleet escaped.
In the end, barely thirty-seven ships managed to escape, and none of them was larger than a frigate.
-Damage report?
Runir asked the moment the fighting ceased.
The report was displayed on her screen a moment later.
The flagship was undamaged, and the shields never went below 60%.
During the battle, they lost two destroyers, both of which were heavily damaged and adrift, but salvageable, and their crews managed to survive.
Twenty-one frigates were also lost, with most of them destroyed, and only four could be repaired.
Corvettes had the highest casualty ratio of forty-two ships, all of which were destroyed.
Luckily, the life pods managed to save a third of their crews, but the loss of her people always hurt the admiral.
-Andrew, what do you want to do about the enemy survivors?
Runir asked right after she told him about the casualties they had suffered.
-They are traitors.
You should know what the punishment for treason is.
Andrew answered, without any emotion.
-As you wish.
Runir said and gave the order to exterminate every survivor from the enemy fleet.
Truth be told, it was her idea to make treason punishable by death without exception.
She didn't pity the enemy, and neither did anyone else in the fleet, as they annihilated any escape pods and any life signs on board the wrecks.
Soon after the last life signs were destroyed, the tugs arrived and started towing the damaged imperial ships to the nearest shipyards for repairs.
While this was going on, Andrew was sitting in the command center, with a channel open to the same pompous idiot who bragged about the new alliance and whatnot.
-How dare you attack our forces? Do you wish to start a war with us?
The enraged alien shouted, while Andrew had to stop himself from yawning.
-Your fleet entered my territory with the intent to steal from the empire.
All I did was defend my assets.
The human said with a bored voice.
-So it should be me asking if you wish to start a war with my empire?
The alien was speechless at the way the emperor turned the tables on him.
-So what?
He finally spoke again, returning to his arrogant tone.
-All we wanted was a few wrecks.
Our fleet didn't attack any of your bases or stations.
-I don't care.
Andrew cut in.
-For me, all of you are traitors; any of you who cross the empire's borders can expect to be destroyed.
-But…
-There are no buts, my decision is final.
Andrew said coldly, looking at the alien on the screen like he was looking at a corpse.
-There will be no further warnings, and if you wish to go to war over this, then be my guest.
I'm sure my admirals will be more than happy to entertain you.
The emperor said, with a predatory glint in his eyes.
The alien on the screen was shocked at this stance, since he never expected it.
Additionally, he knew that even if they were able to fight the empire to a stalemate right now.
They would sooner or later lose the war, since the empire could replace its losses much faster than they could and with much better ships to boot.
Not to mention that they all knew Andrew had a resident merchant at his disposal, which could potentially allow him to simply buy more advanced ships, which they would have a hard time stopping.
What's more, he was certain that the Lantean Emperor was also aware of it.
-Alright, since that's your final decision, then so be it, but any imperial vessels entering our territory will also be destroyed.
The alien finally said, with as much dignity as he could muster.
After these words, the channel was closed.