A simple man walked down a corridor, your slightly above-average soldier, currently on his way to his bunk to take a well-deserved rest.
His brown hair and green eyes glistened in the artificial light of the destroyer, and he couldn't help but wonder if he would see her again.
He is referring to his daughter, who luckily works within the palace, where she is sheltered from the most extreme consequences of the war.
He would receive messages from her every day, the Emperor at least gave them that much, but it just couldn't replace seeing her and talking with her eye to eye.
Her messages have been getting very exciting and more positive recently, he couldn't describe the amount of pride he felt when he learned of her promotion as the Emperor's maid.
Any soldier, or even civilian, would be honored by such a thing, having your blood be chosen by the Emperor himself is something that could be flexed for generations.
His thoughts drifted to his wife for a split second, before he shook his head and wiped the thoughts out of his mind.
He couldn't bear the thought of his beloved stuck in some factory, but he had no choice but to endure it. The emperor promised to replace them with machines ASAP, and even if he didn't, they would simply have to swallow the harsh truth that they needed weapons, and someone had to make those weapons.
"SIR!" A soldier saluted him, as a manager, he outranked most individuals on this ship.
The ranking itself is self-explanatory, a normal soldier reports to their Lieutenant and they report to the manager who is responsible for that area of the ship.
The only person who outranks him is the captain of the ship, then the general of the army, and then his majesty himself.
...Okay, he is slightly more than your "Above average soldier."
His name is Alexander, and he is a manager within the Imperial Navy, he has proven himself in the past conflict of the Empire with his initiative and trustworthy intuition.
Now he is on his way to becoming a captain, or even a general if he tries.
He has to make sure he and the Empire survive first though, a task which he knows all too well is impossible.
He gave the soldier the respect he deserves by saluting back and promptly moved on.
Suddenly, the alarm ship-wide started blaring, an ominous red glow bathing the corridor.
"Oh for fucks sake." A serious tone came out of his mouth, laced with tiredness and concern.
The robotic voice that spoke over the speakers alerted the entire ship that an enemy flotilla has entered the system, causing the previously relaxed atmosphere to flip on its head in mere seconds.
Soldiers raced down the corridors to their stations, as the walls of the ship rumbled with power, the engines activated themselves at full capacity, making the massive ship move.
He finally arrived at the deck of the ship, where he could see the entire fleet moving in front of them, giving them a literal meat shield.
After dismissing his substitute, he sat down at his desk and gave things his best shot.
He has to manage the weapons, many armories, and other such things.
So, after waiting for a while and making sure everything was working appropriately, the enemy showed themselves.
The fleshy constructs seemed only more and more disturbing each time he saw them, they all had completely different shapes and sizes, varying from giant floating mouths to ears that seemed to be able to hear in space, a massive variety of enemies showed themselves with each battle, making them impossible to predict and prepare for.
The corvettes that went in front of them surged forth, carving the flesh with lasers, railguns, and missiles, carving a path through the horde.
The destroyers beside them now fired their more powerful, longer-ranged, weaponry at the enemy, followed by their own shots into the writhing mass of muscle.
Silent screams filled the battlefield, as long writhing tentacles slithered over many corvettes, bending the metal with their sheer strength.
Monstrosities with large mouths bit and gnawed at the humans, using their flesh to strengthen themselves.
The soldiers were understandably horrified, but after being forged by battle after battle with these things, they only winced and moved on, channeling their fear into anger and anger into action.
The Human fleet isn't the only one suffering casualties, as the corvettes became covered and consumed, they self-destructed, killing many opponents in the process.
Tens of explosions shone brighter than any star for milliseconds, ripping at the opponent's forces.
This flotilla is larger than any the Empire has faced so far, which is concerning.
In the best-case scenario, the Hive is running out of resources and wants to end things quickly.
The worst-case scenario, however, is that nothing has changed except the battles will get more costly and difficult.
Then, over the intercom, an emergency announcement was made.
"His Majesty has arrived! I repeat His Majesty has arrived."
That meant reinforcements! It seems the Empire decided they are more useful alive than dead.
The newly built, fresh off-the-line fleet assaulted the Hive fleet from a different angle, allowing an encirclement to take shape.
More than anything, one ship seemed to take the Hive's undivided attention.
A massive cruiser-class starship, its size is colossal.
Eight hundred meters long and four hundred meters wide, every inch of it is covered in heavy weaponry, ranging from lasers to missiles to hangar bays where hundreds of smaller fighters were docked, ready to swarm the enemy.
The front of the ship is elongated, as a colossal laser ominously hums with hidden power.
Adam sat In his comfortable seat, and rapidly fired orders at his subordinates.
"Quickly! Encircle them and take advantage of their disadvantage!"
"Your majesty! A controller has been found!"
"Shoot it with the main gun!"
Controllers, small fragments of the Hive's will, control the fleets even while the Hive's mind is elsewhere.
Destroying them will essentially cut off the head and save many lives.
That is their primary objective.
The escorts surrounding the Cruiser formed a physical second shield, further protecting the Cruiser, from harm.
As the two fleets surrounded the Hive on all sides, they began pushing inwards, creating a path towards the small, at first glance inconspicuous, ship.
The main gun of the cruiser powered up, casting a bright gold hue over the battlefield, strengthening the Hive's desperate strikes and further cementing the soldier's will to hold on.
After half an hour of waiting and desperately defending the cruiser while defending the encirclement, the main gun fired, obliterating the controller, and turning the previously intense struggle for survival into a one-sided slaughterhouse.
The battle was a total victory for the Empire, one of which they haven't had in a while.
The combination of the new Cruiser class ship joining the fight and the newfound knowledge of how to reliably identify the controller's location allowed the Empire to dominate the fight in the long run.
The Empire actually did a feint retreat before this in an attempt to lure the Hive into a trap, which the Hive didn't fall for.
It still pushed the advantage, but did so cautiously, thoroughly investigating every minute detail the Empire let slip, hence why they couldn't ambush them and the main fleet arrived so late to the fight.
Still, a win is a win, and they would have to be satisfied with it even if it resulted in greater losses than expected.
Similar to this fight here, many more large-scale assaults were launched all across the front, all of which proved to be successes as the Hive retreated temporarily.
As new systems were accessed, their resources were plundered as fast as human and robotic hands would allow, minerals burned into metal and alloys for ships, while new ships were being produced with the newly constructed, but significantly smaller, shipyard above Reclamia.
The Empire seemed alive once more, as people watched optimism triumph over pessimism and realism, the commoners laid their full trust in their leaders once again, this time without any complaints regarding staying in factories.
Adam was unbelievably pleased with these developments but knew all too well that the war is far from over.
Now that they had a bit more breathing room, Adam focused the Empire's attention on finding the head of the entire hive, as that is the only surefire way to end the war.
The hive is completely impossible to contact, and if it wished to negotiate it could just analyze the corpses of the consumed soldiers and learn their language skills.
Infiltration was also a great concern in the beginning, until the Hive tried it and everyone could immediately tell it wasn't human.
And just to be extra sure, everyone needed to report that they are alive at the end of every day, and if they didn't, they would be considered compromised and killed.
Is this flawed? Yes. Did many innocent people possibly die for nothing? Yes. Is it better to be safe than sorry? Hell yes!
Unfortunately, these people were necessary sacrifices in Adams's eyes, and they had no excuses not to be checked in time, as everything was made to give them more than enough time to report.
If it was something like their boss abusing them or something they could check, they would, and would react depending on the situation.
Usually, they still got executed, just to be safe.
Nonetheless, as the war turned its gears, time flew by as men died and mothers wept, causing anger and hatred to fuel the Empire further into the conflict.
At this point, the people would still accept peace, but they would definitely get revenge in some way against the hive.
All of this once again fired up Xenophobia within the Empire, making some give paranoid looks to the rescued Diats, still, they were respected and considered an exception, all other aliens in the future would face great challenges to prove their authenticity to humans.
If they were given a chance, as even Adam subconsciously began considering the concept of more Xenos a pain, instead of an adventure or something positive.
So, months passed as the Hive counterattacked, with limited success, as its forces finally seemed to thin in numbers, but at the end of a month, Adam realized why.
A massive ship, the size of the capital of the Empire, significantly bigger than anything the Empire has built so far, including the station responsible for defending Earth.
its course headed directly for Earth, intent on destroying the one thing Humanity valued more than anything else.
Earth itself is now in peril, as the Hive appears to have grown tired of the conflict.
"Fuck." Adam cursed without any care about the generals around him when he heard the report, they have him understanding but tired smirked and asked the age-old question.
"What do we do, Your Majesty?"