Chapter 15: Capture the Thief, Seize the King
Nine months had passed since Yuki personally assumed frontline command.
In that time she had exhausted every method available:
guerrilla sabotage
lightning raids
seizure of minor city-states
strategic feints
deliberate appearances meant to bait the enemy
Yet the Pacific Rim Directorate remained immovable.
A fortress that refused to emerge.
A predator that refused to bite.
They stalled. Always stalled.
Now Yuki understood.
The mind-control nexus must lie within the imperial core. They were waiting for her to walk into it.
If she did not go, they would wait indefinitely.
Frustrating.
Infuriating.
A direct assault would incur catastrophic losses.
A decapitation strike would be suicide against an enemy with superior intelligence surveillance.
So she chose another path.
"Usotan," she said calmly, "send a message to Nathan Doom. Inform him our previous meeting was most enjoyable. I have prepared a return banquet. Invite him to attend."
She tapped the map.
"Ten Terran days from now. A city-state three hundred kilometers west of his capital."
Usotan made a discreet throat-cutting gesture.
Yuki blinked.
"Discretion."
He nodded.
Moments later:
"Your Highness, they have accepted. He will arrive."
Yuki smiled faintly.
"Then ensure we provide the finest chefs. We must not appear discourteous."
Both sides understood.
If one could set a trap—
so could the other.
"Lord Doom."
Yuki greeted him with a radiant smile.
Usotan had never seen such a smile.
The Primarch aura beneath it felt like the Grim Reaper knocking.
Doom returned the smile — as always.
"Your Highness has caused me considerable inconvenience. I have exerted great effort to attend."
He seated himself and began eating as though he owned the hall.
The city-state had been under Thunder Warrior control for three months and served as Yuki's operational headquarters. Five hundred Thunder Warriors held the central district.
Usotan signaled discreetly.
At least fifty thousand Iron Men lay concealed within a twenty-kilometer perimeter, hidden by advanced optical cloaking.
"Your Highness," Doom said, dabbing his lips, "this meeting surprises me. You are… unusually impatient."
"You always seem confident," Yuki replied.
"Because I possess the right to be."
"No," she said sharply. "You do not."
The room stilled.
"You claimed you alone could save humanity. You cannot. You never will.
My father crossed borders unarmed to secure peace. Would you dare do the same?
You would not.
My officers inform me fifty thousand Iron Men surround this city. Are there truly only fifty thousand?"
Silence.
"You claim mastery of the Warp. Knowledge of immortals. Tell me, Nathan Doom — are you not afraid of my father?"
Her eyes sharpened.
"You are afraid.
Otherwise you would continue stalling.
Why meet me today?"
The invitation had been a test.
Doom feared the Emperor.
He was testing Yuki's patience — just as he tested the Emperor's.
But if the Emperor lost patience, he would simply annihilate the Directorate.
Doom needed time.
He also needed proximity.
Proximity to Yuki.
Doom's smile vanished.
His gaze became cold and serpentine.
Yuki continued:
"You intended to gift another ring. Then trigger an attack. In desperation I would wear it… and you would enslave my mind."
Doom spoke quietly.
"Your Highness is… perceptive."
It had been his plan.
Brainwash her.
Escape Terra.
He would never gamble against the Emperor directly.
"But you misunderstand one thing," he said, laughter returning. "Schemes require strength. I could simply attack, incapacitate you, and take you."
He stepped beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Your forces converge even now, yes? Capture the leader first. Admirable.
But do you believe they can defeat mine?"
There were not fifty thousand Iron Men.
There were three hundred thousand.
They waited beyond the city, ready to descend like a mechanical avalanche.
Yuki slapped his hand away.
"Capture the leader first," she said calmly. "A wise saying.
Tell me, Lord Doom…
are you the thief—
or the king?"
He stiffened.
Something rippled across his sensory network.
Eastward.
Toward his capital.
Yuki rose and drew both swords.
"Then we begin by capturing the thief."
This was a base-exchange gambit.
The Pacific Rim Directorate existed because of Doom's neural domination network.
Destroy the control nexus —
and the empire collapses.
At this moment, Imperial forces that had waged months of sabotage were converging upon the capital.
To preserve secrecy, Yuki had not transmitted the orders herself.
The Emperor had relayed them.
The capital's defenses were at their weakest.
Primary Iron Man reserves were deployed here.
The operational order was singular:
Destroy the neural control nexus at all costs.
Here and now, Yuki and five hundred Thunder Warriors faced three hundred thousand Iron Men.
Alone.
But Yuki was smiling.
Usotan was smiling.
Every Thunder Warrior was smiling.
They leveled their weapons at the approaching mechanical tide.
And as the ground trembled beneath advancing metal ranks, they roared as one:
"Unity! Unity! Unity!"