April 7th, 2278

136 Days Remain

Captain Sai Devar Khatri made his way through the labyrinth of the Secretary General's bunker. It had been built to ensure that the government could not be decapitated by a deep strike during the Diln War. It was currently serving a similar purpose for the Ivo War. Sai doubted the Ivos would bother with that. They'd already won the war. Everyone knew it, though not everyone was willing to admit it. Sai had made his peace with the end of the world, though he couldn't say the same for his superiors. Particularly the Secretary General, who had summoned him to his office for the second time in two weeks.

Probably another promotion I didn't earn.

The government had turned Sai into a propaganda hero when he'd returned with warning of the looming Ivo fleet. With the extermination of Sapphire, public morale needed a boost. So, the actions of the Pride of Nigeria were embellished to the point of absurdity. Sai and his ship had managed to defeat an Ivo ship in single combat, and boy oh boy did the UN propagandists want the world to know about it. He had been promoted to Captain and was "waiting on assignment", which was Space Force PR speak for "Too popular to die."

To his rage, Sai had been forced to leave the Pride in the hands of his XO, Alya Peretz, as it went off to battle. As far as anyone knew, the Pride and her crew were drifting lifelessly in Dark Space, just like the rest of Admiral Moser's fleet. Sai had been very close to handing in his resignation then. However, the reality was that doing so would only mean he'd die a civilian instead of dying in uniform. Ultimately, Sai preferred the latter. So, he stayed. The entire government was in a frenzy, desperately searching for a way out. Some magic spell that would forestall the doom of Man. If rumors were to be believed, the government had already offered a complete, unconditional surrender to the Ivos. It wasn't hard to imagine how the Ivos had responded to that.

Sai reached the door to the Secretary's office, and the guards let him in after a pat down. Behind the door stood the deflated husk of what had once been Secretary General Fu Li Wei. The poor creature turned to Sai and gave him an exhausted attempt at a smile.

"Captain. It's good to see you."

"Likewise, Mr. Secretary."

"I doubt that will last, seeing as how I'm giving you another promotion."

I'm shocked, truly.

"I see, sir."

The Secretary laughed. "A deliciously neutral answer, Captain. Or, more accurately..." he handed the man the pins of his new rank, "...Rear Admiral. You'd make a good politician."

"Perish the thought. Sir."

The politician smiled and gave a light chuckle, then his mask fell away. His features turned deadly serious. "I'm afraid that I'm going to be giving you a burden far greater than a new rank, Admiral."

Sai stood at attention, unwilling to speak.

The Secretary continued. "I have selected you for a mission to preserve humanity. Preserve our species. It is a contingency I have been putting together for some time now, and unfortunately its criteria have been met."

For "some time"? the newly minted Admiral thought.

The Secretary smiled. "Oh yes, Admiral, I'm afraid I am quite the defeatist. The math never lied, and neither did Admiral Moser." the man's face turned very dark "He charged into the fire on my orders, taking the best chance we had for preserving our civilization, knowing full well that his odds of survival were slim. What he didn't know was that he was only Plan A."

The Secretary's smile returned, devoid of all warmth. "I'd already had my best analysts run the numbers, using the data from New Kolkata. The cold, ugly reality is that the outcome of this war has never been in doubt. No one is more aware of that than me."

Sai couldn't believe what he was hearing. His Commander in Chief, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the leader of all humanity, had never once believed they were going to win.

"Then-...then why push so hard for a fight? Why all of these resources to new weapons, tactics, ships? Why not put everything into evacuation?"

The Secretary's voice took on an anguished tone. "Because it wasn't immediately obvious that the Ivos desired our extinction. Because they haven't once responded to any of our attempts at communication. Because publicly admitting defeat would mean a mass panic the likes of which we've never seen before. Because I wanted, desperately, to be wrong."

The Secretary made a visible effort to compose himself, and continued.

"I attempted to surrender even before Admiral Moser's battle. When the Ivos' only response was to kill the messengers, it became clear that there was not going to be a peaceful end to this war. So, I switched my focus from victory to survival."

The Rear Admiral finally spoke. "Forgive my interruption, Mr. Secretary, but what does that mean?"

"The Zenith has finished its shakedown cruise."

The Rear Admiral was annoyed, both at his question being ignored and at the complete non-sequitur given in lieu of an answer. "Forgive my saying so sir, but I suspect it's a little late for it to make a difference."

The Zenith was the largest warship ever built by humanity. It had first been conceived of during the Diln War, where the dreaded class of Diln ships dubbed "Superdreadnoughts" had roamed through human space. They were gargantuan three kilometer long warships that were an unholy fusion of a battleship and an assault carrier. Their power in a fleet battle was only matched by their capacity to sustain a terrestrial attack. The human fleet had had no real answer to the terrible ships in fleet combat, spending most of the war desperately avoiding a direct confrontation with them. In the decades after the war ended, the Zenith had been imagined as an answer to these ships. Her hull had been laid down, and then funding had dried up. The project had been caught in political limbo for many years, being deactivated and reactivated as time passed. It had been very close to completion the last time the project had been cancelled, only for the Space Force to realize that the operating costs alone would be a very hard sell to the General Assembly. So, it had been set aside for a rainy day.

Now the rains had come, but Zenith had been late to the party.

The Secretary General nodded in agreement. "Its contribution to the war with the Ivos would have been strategically negligible. I've been reserving it for a very different task."

The Rear Admiral looked on expectantly.

The Secretary General raised an amused eyebrow. "Yes, it is your task which I am referring to."

He walked over to his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out an...envelope? Sai looked at the antiquated item in bewilderment as the Secretary approached and handed it to him.

"The details are in here, but I will give you the overview: your mission is the preservation of the human species. You will take command of the Zenith, and take her out into Dark Space. At a predetermined location, you will activate your transition drive. You will wait in interstellar space for the specified amount of time, after which you will transition back and go to two pre-staged locations. At these locations, ships full of people will be waiting. You will gather these pockets together and head to a final location, where you will meet the assault carriers Tianlong, Hokkaido, Coral Sea, and Enterprise. These ships have been specially modified for their new mission: sustaining our remaining population. Once you have made the rendezvous with these ships, you will lead your fleet away from human space, and begin searching for suitable long-term colony prospects."

Sai stared at the man for a long moment, then looked down at the envelope held in the Secretary's outstretched hand. He looked back up, and finally spoke.

"Sir, with respect, are you insane?"

The Secretary General laughed. This time it was the real laugh of a real man, not the false chuckle of a politician. "No, Rear Admiral, unfortunately I am not."

"How can you possibly expect this to work, and why on Earth would you choose me to lead it? Are you starting to believe your own propaganda?"

"I expect this to work because I have invested every possible resource into seeing that it does. The crews of the Zenith and the carriers have been selected through a carefully constructed algorithm, factoring in skillsets, long term genetic health prospects, and psychological profile. No politics, no favoritism. Just math. Effectively, the ships are crewed with the absolute best of our Space Force. Or, at least, what was left at the time I began assembling crews. As for why I'd pick you..." he smiled.

"I picked you because you fit the criteria. There are others who are more qualified than you, but you're the one who it will be easiest to get away with sending off to the Diln border-which, by the way, will be the public reason for your departure."

Sai laughed. "And what happens if one of these magic algorithm ships gets destroyed by an Ivo beam on the way to the rendezvous point? Or if I go mad with power and rule as a tyrant?"

For the first time, the Secretary General looked genuinely offended. "I am neither stupid enough to believe everything will go as planned nor arrogant enough to believe my plan could account for every factor. Nevertheless, I have included as much redundancy as possible in the plan, especially the carriers.. The crews are half male and half female, carefully selected by an algorithm for genetic compatibility to ensure that each ship can serve as a seed from which humanity can grow again. If even one carrier, or the Zenith herself, survives then there will still be enough resources and genetic diversity for humanity to continue. Of course, it would take significantly longer to rebuild from such a small amount of people, so that would obviously not be the best case scenario. As for you? Your psychological profile is a perfect fit. You despise power and responsibility, yet you are still extremely competent in wielding it. You'll almost certainly be ruling as what is effectively a dictator, at least until you can find a permanent colony site, so such traits are crucial."

Sai was just angry now. "So that's it then? You've got it all figured out. We abandon billions of people to an agonizing death, and then scurry off to build our wonderful little utopia on some dust ball. Yes, how very benevolent of you. I'm sure the people will erect statues of you."

The Secretary gave a dark smile. "There's no 'We', Rear Admiral. I said you'd be ruling, remember? I'm not going with you."

If he was being honest with himself, Sai was genuinely shocked, though he struggled gamely not to show it. "Ah, yes, going down with the ship, are you?"

"Yes, but I doubt I'll be the captain when it actually slips beneath the waves. I've got a few weeks left before my opponents can rally a no confidence vote. I'm going to stall as much as possible, buy time to get more people to those pre-staged locations."

"Why not just order a general evacuation? Even if we don't have enough tonnage, at least it will give more people a chance to survive!"

"I've tried, with limited success. I've managed to get a general evacuation order from the most currently at-risk colonies, but the logistics are a nightmare, and it doesn't help that I'm being stonewalled at every opportunity."

"By who?"

"New political faction. They're essentially advocating for a "fight to the last", as it were. Dig our heels in at every colony and try and hold them off on the land. The idea is that we force them to make terms, or at the very least to back off of us, if only for a while."

Sai almost laughed at the absurdity. "How? The Ivos haven't conducted a serious landing since New Kolkata. They just glass everything now."

"I agree with you, obviously. They are my political opponents, remember? I can't say I blame them though. Rolling over and dying is hardly an appealing prospect, and any plan for evacuation will unavoidably mean billions of people being left behind. Hardly a popular position."

He sighed and scratched his head. "They've gotten it into their heads that the Ivos will make a landing at Tau Ceti. That's the planet they started this whole nightmare over, after all. Their plan is to oust me, draw a line in the sand at Tau Ceti, and stall them with a lengthy ground campaign there."

He laughed. "Hell of it is, I can't tell them they're wrong. It's not like I know what the Ivos are planning. If anything, I hope they're right, and that I really am just a defeatist. Anyways, that's why they're stonewalling me over evacuations. To them, it'd be admitting defeat. I've been redirecting refugee ships instead, they don't care enough to block me there."

Sai wasn't really sure what to say. He was willing to admit he'd misjudged the man. He still seethed at being ordered to flee with his tail between his legs, again, and he was far from confident that he was the right man for the job. Nevertheless, he would do it.

"So...what will you do after you're removed from office?" Sai asked, surprised that the question had passed his lips.

The Secretary looked at him like he had two heads, but the look was quickly replaced by one of mirth, mixed with genuine thought. "I don't know. Gardening, perhaps? Never had much use for hobbies, distracts me from my career. No wife or children, either, for similar reasons. That worked out well, though. Having a family would mean I'd have to lose them to this...horror."

The Secretary looked at his Admiral and gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks for asking."

"Not a problem, sir."

The Secretary's face turned troubled. "...Admiral, I don't need a statue, but...if this actually works, if there's a future for humanity, and anyone has the emotional fortitude to write a history book... When...if it mentions me..." he turned away.

"Sir?"

"...I don't need flattery. They don't need to sugarcoat what I've done. Just...please. Make sure-...just, let them know that I tried. I tried as hard as I could."

Sai didn't know what, if anything, could be said to that.

The Secretary turned away. "Alright, Admiral. You have a very strict time table. Get moving to your new assignment."

Orders. Sai knew how to respond to orders.

"Yes, sir."

When he left the room, Li Wei gave silent thanks for his having the foresight to turn around. It wouldn't do for the Rear Admiral to see the tears in his eyes.

---

September 30, 2278

39 days after the end

In the endless black sea of interstellar space, a three kilometer long warship drifts. It has the same uneven spindle shape that most human warships have, but scaled up dramatically. Four sets of wide, short radiators hide behind the profile of its frontal armor. In the space between those radiators there are four sets of huge armored doors. It is from these doors that the ship's massive ground complement can be deployed, giving it the same strategic impact that the dreaded Diln Superdreadnoughts it is based on had. The front section of the ship, bristling with guns, lasers, and missile silos, is crowned by the tips of two massive spinal mount barrels, jutting out on either side of the ship's nose. The ship is armed with two spinal mount hypervelocity guns. In combat, one fires, the other recharges. This ensures a steady, continuous stream of hypervelocity fire that enables the ship to out gun any other conventional vessel in space. Against the Diln, the Zenith would have been a major strategic asset, giving humanity a warship that can go toe-to-toe with a Superdreadnought, and with enough ground troops on board to single-handedly invade all but the most developed colony worlds.

Against the Ivos, it was fodder for the beam cannons.

It was a ship built for a different war, a war long over by the time it was finished. Now, it has a different sort of mission. Within its hull, the crew scurries about as the watches change. Its commander, Rear Admiral Sai Devar Khatri, walks with something resembling enthusiasm towards the CIC. The months that the Zenith had been forced to spend hiding in Real Space were now over. He and the crew had hardly been idle during that time. He'd run them through every drill in the book (and a few that he and his officers had cooked up themselves) a hundred times over. Part of it was about maintaining acceptable combat readiness standards for the crew and ship. However, it was also about keeping their minds occupied.

The crew were almost exclusively childless and unmarried, by design, but most still had friends or family of some kind they'd left behind. Even those few who had no close family were still feeling the emotional weight of abandoning their entire species to its death. Most of them had reveled in the drills and training exercises for this reason. It was something to do that didn't involve sitting and stewing in their own existential dread. It was also why, despite their nightmarish situation, most of the crew had an enthusiasm similar to their Admiral's. The crippling anticipation would finally be over.

Sai entered the CIC and sat in his command chair. He keyed his comm. "Captain Le Roux, you may transition at will." Sai might be in command, but Ambre Le Roux was the ship's captain. Sai might tell her where to go, but the details of getting their were her domain. Sai gave an internal sight at that. He'd only got to enjoy being a captain for a scant few months before he was grounded. The crushing weight of his new responsibility fell upon him, and the sigh almost turned into a sob. Instead, Sai recomposed himself and sat back in his chair, awaiting transition.

---

The transition to Dark Space had been uneventful. The day and a half spent burning towards their first objective was equally so. There was absolutely nothing to be seen or heard along the way, save the usual particle clouds. There wasn't even the usual smattering of decomposed radio signals or the rare blink of light from some distant drive. It was quiet. Silent as a grave.

The first set of coordinates on the list given to Rear Admiral Khatri took the ship to an utterly unremarkable section of Dark Space. The star charts told him that it was a particularly large gap lying between a red dwarf and brown dwarf system, some fifteen light years across. An impossibly vast distance to try and search through, unless given a set of exact coordinates like the ones Sai had. He opened a video call with Captain Le Roux, and the ship transitioned into Real Space.

Immediately, the sensor officer called out. "Heat signature detected. Estimate three light seconds out."

Captain Le Roux turned to face her screen and look at Le Roux. "Should we hail them?"

The Rear Admiral thought for a moment, then took in a breath to speak, but was beaten to it by the communications officer.

"Incoming hail from the contact!"

Sai chuckled lightly at that. Let's see. About ten seconds for them to respond. Three for the light of our heat signature to reach them, four (give or take) for them to figure out what they're looking at, and another three for their communication to reach us. They're quick on the draw.

He spoke through the Captain's screen. "Accept the hail and send it to my screen."

The order was followed, and Sai was greeted by a haggard-looking man in a Space Force uniform, who immediately sighed in relief at the sight of him.

"Oh thank God, we had feared you wouldn't come."

"I am Rear Admiral Sai Devar Khatri, I've come to these coordinates with the understanding that there are survivors here for me to collect."

There was a three second lag due to the light delay, but the officer responded. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Nagy, captain of UNS Halberd, we were assigned to escort this refugee convoy to this location and await pickup."

"What's in your convoy?"

"Ten heavy passenger liners, two thousand people aboard each of them, one heavy fleet tender-USN Forge, a heavy freighter loaded with supplies, and my ship the Halberd, a Hunan class frigate."

Sai was pleasantly surprised. This was no haphazard flotilla, it was a carefully planned selection of ships. Twenty thousand people. The fact that they were on purpose-built passenger liners decreased the likelihood that the survivors would go stir-crazy, at least for a while. It was a problem that would've arisen were they on a ship ill-fitted for lengthy voyages. The heavy tender brought precious, life saving maintenance that went beyond what a crew could do for a ship on their own. The freighter was an incredibly useful shot in the arm for the fleet's supplies, and the frigate was a boon to the security options for the fleet. Just one fleet like this would have been a priceless resource, but apparently there was a second one waiting elsewhere. Sai hoped it would be the same or better than this one.

"Excuse me, sir. We've been here for several months now, and as such we have had no news whatsoever of what's going on out there."

"I doubt I'll know more than you, Commander. It was certainly quiet on the way here, though."

The officer looked dejected. Sai sent a text order to Le Roux, and spoke again.

"Tell you what, Commander. It's a seven hour trip to your position, so we'll have more time then we could ever hope for to trade notes."

He sat back in his chair and awaited a lengthy discussion.

---

Sai let out a relieved breath as a Halberd reappeared on Zenith's scopes. It had been well over a day since it had left on its scouting patrol, searching for any survivors or stragglers that might have slipped through the cracks of the Ivo genocide. Sai fought down a sudden panic when he saw the several dozen other contacts suddenly appear behind Halberd on the scopes. The rational part of his mind subdued the panicked animal part of his brain that had convinced itself it must be an Ivo fleet. Such a notion was ridiculous, of course. Any Ivos that Halberd ran into would just kill the frigate on the spot, not try to tale it. Hopefully.

"We're getting a hail on a Space Force frequency. It's not from Halberd." the communications officer called out.

"Put them through to my screen." Sai ordered over his video comm.

An older woman in a Space Force uniform appeared on Sai's screen. She saluted Crisply and then spoke.

"I'm Captain Hidayet, captain of the Liaoning, current ranking officer of the Diln border guard. Boy, am I glad to see you."

"Diln border guard? I'd figured you'd all have been recalled to Earth by now."

"Most of us were, but they still wanted a small force to stay behind as a deterrent. Isn't it ridiculous? The world fucking ending, and the suits were still looking over their shoulder for the Diln."

Sai didn't bother to comment. He just asked a new question. "How did you end up here?"

"Our probes came back with word of Ivos heading for our base at the Diln border. Almost all of our unit's strength had been recalled to Earth, it was just Liaoning, her two escorting destroyers, and Stockholm, a cruiser. In theory, anyway. She's some old Interstellar War fossil they dug up from the boneyard and reactivated. No spinal mount, but they ripped out most of her secondary weapons systems and then crammed her full of enough missiles to level a continent. Not enough to stop the Ivos, though. I ordered the base evacuated and then I took my little flotilla out and hid in Real Space."

Sai was puzzled. "How'd Halberd find you if you were in Real Space?"

"I send out my interceptors on patrol periodically. Spent the first few weeks rounding up some survivors. Mostly just freighters that got stranded behind the lines and the occasional lucky refugee ship that slipped past the Ivo patrols. It dried up pretty quick, though. It's been weeks since we've seen any other ships, Ivo or human. Until one of my interceptors found your Halberd, of course."

So, it's been eerily quiet for a while, then.

Sai pondered that. One possible explanation was that the Liaoning had simply managed to find all of the survivors in this area of space. That didn't explain the apparent absence of the Ivos, though.

Oh well. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

"Well, Captain, I'm glad to find more survivors. You and your fleet will tag along with us. We've got one more stop to make, then we'll be on our way to our final destination. Your interceptors can fly recon for the fleet."

Captain Hidayet looked unsure. "Where exactly is our final destination, sir?"

"I'm not at liberty to say it over a comm. The data cannot be allowed to exist electronically. We'll have an in-person meeting, and I'll fill you in on everything you need to know then."

She seemed reassured by that. She saluted and cut the feed.

---

October 14, 2278

53 days after the end

The Zenith and her accompanying fleet had grown in size over the two weeks since she'd emerged from hiding. The two pre-staged refugee fleets had both been found, the second being identical in size and complement to the first. A few more scattered ships had been found after Captain Hidayet's flotilla, but for the most part it was silent in what was once human space. Now, they had come upon the rendezvous point. Sai hesitated for a nervous moment, and then he found his courage. He sent out the order for the fleet to transition.

The moment they entered real space, the sensors officer called out "Contact!" and icons appeared on Sai's screen.

They were human ships, broadcasting IFFs. Four of them were the names he was looking for. Coral Sea, Hokkaido, Tiānlóng, Enterprise. The four carriers had survived and, if the other icons on the screen were anything to go by, they had found their refugee fleets as well. Sai did some quick mental math.

Each pre-stage refugee fleet had roughly twenty thousand people in it. Zenith had been assigned two, and so had each carrier. So, roughly forty thousand people per carrier. Forty thousand times five makes two hundred thousand. Add to that the crews of the carriers, along with the escorting and supporting ships, plus all of the stragglers picked up by each carrier, and you have...let's go with another twenty thousand people. Give or take. Two hundred and twenty thousand people left, out of seventeen billion total. A fraction of a fraction of a percent.

The crushing weight that had been slowly lifting from Sai fell down again. He was flattened by it. The loss was inconceivable, indescribable. Countless nations, languages, cultures, traditions, religions, communities. People. All of it lost forever, living on only in the history books, if they were lucky. It was a genocide unmatched in known galactic history. Humanity was finished. Sai and his fleet were a footnote, a remnant. So insignificant that calling it a shadow of its former self would be to overstate its importance.

Hundreds of thousands of years of history, all amounting to nothing. What was the point?

"Sir, captain's bridge reports that the contacts are hailing us. What are your orders?"

Sai was only thirty, but his responsibilities made him feel ancient as he looked at the face of the young officer addressing him. She maintained a well practiced air of professionalism, but her eyes betrayed her. One look into her eyes revealed an ocean of sorrow so vast that the human mind couldn't physically process it. He looked around it the other faces on his command deck, and found a similar expression. The unfathomable loss was felt by all of them, but they still had their duty. They looked at the grim future ahead of them, and kept going anyway.

Hundreds of thousands of years of history, and I want it to end here?

He gathered up the last of his resolve and summoned his breath. "Let's get in contact with them. We'll need to organize the fleet as a whole. Formations, watch rotations, patrol shifts. We've got a big task ahead of us, so let's get moving."

---

Two days of preparations passed, and Sai was eager to get going. The sooner they were out of former human space, the better. Much time had been spent establishing proper systems of communication and an official chain of command between the Rear Admiral, the Space Force captains, and the civilian ship captains. Sai keyed his fleet-wide comm.

"All ships are to transition on my mark. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark!"

The well over one hundred ships making up the ragged fleet vanished instantly.

---

The fleet followed its heading, accelerating its way out of human space at a comfortable 1g. With nothing but the usual dead silence occurring on the trip so far, Sai had taken the opportunity to rest while the fleet was under acceleration. He wasn't fond of zero g sleep. He was awoken from a mercifully dreamless sleep by the ship's acceleration abruptly stopping and its alarm blaring. He shot out of bed and threw on his uniform, then he pushed off down the hall, floating for his command deck. When he arrived, the subordinate that had taken his place looked at him fearfully.

"Thirty ships, all anti-matter drives." she said, her voice shaky.

The atmosphere on the flag bridge was oppressive. A few people openly cried, some let loose lengthy strings of curses, but no one could tear their eyes away from their screens, where the thirty contacts all blinked red. They were gathered in a rough circle all around the fleet.

They were waiting for us. Must've tracked one of us here, in secret.

Sai had a little less than twenty combat ships at his disposal. He was far from confident in his odds. However, he was even less confident in the odds of anyone in his fleet managing to escape. Now that they had been spotted, the Ivos would chase them to the ends of the galaxy. He looked at the signatures on his screen. The Zenith's computer estimated the Ivo force to be two battleships and twenty eight escorts.

He'd have to fight. "Now here this: all combat ships are to open silos and prep for missile launch on my command." Against the (relatively) small number of Ivo ships, the overlapping point defenses would perhaps not be quite as insurmountable. Sai was confident that his ships would inflict sizeable casualties. He was also confident that it wouldn't be enough. His mind raced, searching desperately for something, anything. But there was nothing.

We're just rats in a trap. All that careful planning, all that struggle, and yet the end comes all the same.

The Ivo fleet finished its deceleration burn, and turned over to face their enemy. It was then that Sai noticed. They'd cut their momentum completely. Normally, a fleet in combat would still maintain enough momentum to close with its enemy. The Ivo fleet had come to a complete stop. Sai was tempted to let the missiles fly, but he was baffled enough to continue watching his enemy. Minutes passed, and the two fleets continued their staring contest. The Ivos blinked first. The burned and maneuvered into a single cohesive fleet, and then accelerated away.

What?

Sai couldn't wrap his head around it.

Was it the Zenith? They would have never seen a ship of her class before. Maybe her size scared them off?

Sai knew that the Zenith couldn't tip the scales in his favor enough to make a difference, but the Ivos didn't necessarily know that.

One of Sai's officers shouted in rage. "THAT'S IT? ALL OF THAT, AND YOU BASTARDS DON'T EVEN HAVE THE DECENCY TO FINISH THE JOB! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED, YOU SPINELESS COWARDS!" Tears poured from the man's eyes, and a someone nearby wrapped him in a hug as he collapsed into sobs.

The officer's words brought another thought to Sai's mind.

Was it actually mercy?

He pushed the absurd thought aside. Why show mercy now, after all that they had already done? Absurd.

Sai took his seat once again and spoke. "I don't know what just happened any more than you do, but it's not an opportunity I intend to waste. Resume our previous course. We're getting out of here."

The survivors of humanity made to what had once been their territory at their best acceleration. Behind them lay the smoldering remains of their civilizations, and the ashes of billions of souls. Within a few days, the fleet had made it out of their former space.

Few of them would ever return.