There was no response. Robin sighed. Bloodshed couldn't be avoided, it seemed, but he would try to handle this situation with restraint. The battle had already been won, and unnecessary bloodshed could be avoided. They were here to intimidate the enemy, not to outright kill them. The funny thing was that even in the vacuum of space, his voice was clearly heard by the other side, and it didn't come from their comms.
Though the intimidation seemed a little offhand.
Robin lifted his hand and gestured as if he were conducting a huge concert. Light tendrils seemed to emerge from the surrounding debris and proceeded to grip the doors from the sides. In the next second, they bent the doors out of shape, forcing them open.
As the door was thrown off its hinges, the corridor came into view. A massive gust of wind rushed out due to the pressure difference. Before Robin could even see the dark hallways ahead, he was warmly welcomed by a barrage of laser shots. Multiple shots fired simultaneously, and it was as if a machine gun of laser bullets was aimed at him.
However, Robin had anticipated this kind of welcome. The moment the shots started, a light shield materialized in front of him, rendering the laser bullets harmless. The shield was incredibly durable and endured the continuous barrage for a whole five seconds without any sign of damage. When the shooting ceased, the huge shield slowly dissipated as Robin finally saw the men in front of him.
They were in some kind of space suits which looked as sophisticated as the ones he had in his ships. The men in suits also had a transparent face cover and one could see their faces easily.
And from the looks of it their emotions portrayed shock and horror. They looked like they had seen some kind of ghosts. Robin didn't care of their surprise and moved his hand a bit as light chains came out of his hands. They flew across and chained each and everyone of them to the ground.
It was very swift, so much so that these people didn't even have the time to react. They were chained to the side walls. After doing so he proceeded to walk inside. There was another set of blast doors in order to make sure there was proper pressure difference. Robin didn't care and just walked in.
The scent of burning metal and charred materials had filled the air. The walls were riddled with laser burns, creating a patchwork of scorch marks that marred the once gleaming surfaces. Alarms echoed faintly in the distance, and top of all that there were some stupid soldiers who tried to take him down only to pinned down on the wall beside in the next second.
But Robin didn't kill anyone of them.
After walking for about 5 minutes, Robin finally reached the bridge. The huge automatic door seemed to anticipate his arrival and opened by itself. In the center of the vast commanding hub of the spaceship, there was a long table, and on the other side sat a woman who seemed to be crossing her long, agile fingers, looking at him with a mix of curiosity, hatred, and reverence.
Using his Light abilities, Robin could sense the emotions emanating from this woman, but he couldn't comprehend why she felt reverence towards him. Was it because of how he had entered the ship and displayed his abilities?
"High Admiral Selena," Robin said, trying to break the trance that seemed to envelop her. Selena snapped back to reality, rising from her seat and bowing.
"High Elder."
This statement took Robin by surprise. He didn't understand the reference at all. The confusion in Robin's eyes didn't go unnoticed by Selena.
"Are you not a High Elder?" Selena asked cautiously.
"What is a High Elder?" Robin inquired, seeking an explanation.
"A High Elder is someone who holds a position of utmost authority within a galactic empire, possessing honed and achieved abilities after years of practice. They are essentially the rulers of the galactic empires. Some empires may have several of them."
"Uh... Okay... But what does that have to do with me?"
"Aren't you a High Elder? Your abilities go beyond that of a normal species. Flying in vacuum without any support and taking down my soldiers, only a High Elder could do that. I am just ignorant of the galaxy from which the High Elder hails."
Robin was perplexed. He had never declared himself as a High Elder. "Who said I am a High Elder?"
"You don't have to say it. Your extraordinary abilities speak for themselves. I may not know which galaxy the High Elder comes from, but I can sense your power," Selena replied.
"I am from a different galaxy? Why would you think that? I belong to this galaxy itself," Robin clarified.
"High Elder, it is not fitting for someone of your position to lie to a normal person like me. Let's not talk about your high-tiered abilities; your species can never belong to this galaxy," Selena stated matter-of-factly, remembering the significant losses she had suffered under Robin's command.
"You think I'm lying? Why would I lie?" Robin retorted, taken aback by the blatant racism.
"Because you look nothing like us. It's as simple as that," Selena replied, seemingly treating it as a known fact. To Robin, it sounded awfully different—it sounded like racism.
"Just because I don't look like you, it doesn't mean I don't hail from this galaxy," Robin said, feeling appalled and angered by the prejudice. Selena felt Robin's anger but couldn't understand its source.
"Isn't that the norm?" Selena asked, unaware of the gravity of her words.
"Fuck!" Robin cursed and proceeded to bind her with Light chains. She didn't resist at all and allowed herself to be restrained, realizing the futility of escape. He didn't want to engage with this woman any longer; it was better to leave the questioning to the professionals. Robin looked around and noticed that, during the short time he was there, none of the soldiers came to disturb them.
Perhaps she had requested to be left alone.
In the meantime, the Protoss warriors warped themselves onto the spaceship and swiftly took control of the damaged vessel. They understood the urgency of their mission - to conduct in-depth research on this spaceship and unravel its strengths, weaknesses, and any potential messages it had sent to the Luminary Collective back home.
The battle might have been won, but the war was far from over.
Robin wandered through the spaceship, observing its differences from their own vessel and trying to gain insights into the culture of the Luminary Collective. Even from a human perspective, the spaceship was a marvel, a top-class craft with remarkable aesthetics. Surprisingly, the change in species didn't result in significant differences in the design and technology.
Meanwhile, his friends grew curious and donned their spacesuits to join Robin in the exploration. The Zorians had retreated and deactivated their weapon systems, deciding it was wiser to endure than to risk obliteration in a senseless attack. The Luminary Collective would soon arrive, adding a sense of urgency to their quest for information.
After some check they were back at the Keldabe battleship. Everyone was in the bridge at the moment, Duke, Artanis, Robin and his friends and the advisors of both the factions. Everyone cheered and had a small banquet.
After the tough battle, they deserved to let loose and have some fun. Wine and food was distributed around but in moderation. Artanis seemed to love the wine of Terrans and asked for a crate of them.
Even the soldiers were allowed to rest. Robin's own chefs went on to help the Terrans. When they boarded the spaceship they didn't have much idea of what was going on and only knew that they would be serving that most powerful man in human history. But once they got to know what was going on, they felt useless.
Many Terrans died in the battle and they could only look and pray for the dead, though Robin said that some of them would come back to life again but it didn't help their conscience at all. Robin was leading a ship to safeguard humanity as a whole and the least they could do is help the Terrans.
So the chefs got busy with the other chefs in the kitchen and tried to make good and warm food for the thousands of the Terrans. It was very miniscule in the grand scheme but this was the least they could do.
The banquet didn't last long and was over within an hour.
"It had been an uphill fight in the last few days and we have done excessively well. I am proud of you. But now we will have to face a greater threat. Artanis, you are in charge of interrogation and I want to know the in and out of their system and also ask about High Elder. They seem to be important."
"As you command, Supreme Commander."
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