-Next day-

Three half a kilometer long and forty-five meters high cruisers of the Galactic Federation exited hyperdrive.

"two kilometers, and our weapons are in range Chief General." - Captain Han reported.

These cruisers are what make the Galactic Federation so formidable. Their massive firepower and flexibility to achieve nearly every task make them the best weapon of the Federation. Such a cruiser can transport up to 10000 ground units (a battalion), three hunter squadrons, each squadron consisting of fifty hunter ships. Obviously, a hunter ship is only manned by one pilot, as they require special education.

"To all units, open the hangar and deploy every transporter and hunter we have. I wish you the best of luck, soldiers." - I said through my short-distance voice communicator.

"Captain Han, fire with everything we have got the moment we enter firing range."

The deck of the Galactic Federation's three cruisers opened, and hundreds of ships exited the hangars. The air troops formed three diamond formations with the transporters in the middle.

The Galactic Empire was also releasing its air troops, though they formed a moth formation heavily focused on damage output.

-POV Chief Commander Reymon (leader of the air units)-

"Soldiers, always remember our top and only priority is to get through to the planet as fast as possible. Do not even think about finish any of the enemies off. Hold the formation at any cost! Engage, for the Federation!"

I could hear my heartbeat as my body was on full alert, adrenalin pumping through my veins as my men and I were flying with high speed onto the enemy hunters.

"Keep pushing!" - I roared into my short distance comm as comrades died left and right on my side.

Thirty seconds later, we made it through the wave of attacking enemy hunters.

We neared the cruisers.

They did not shoot at us as planned. The enemy cruisers are heavily occupied with defending against our three cruisers' heavy ceasefire. I looked at our cruisers, and I saw that they would not be able to protect us much longer. As the enemy hunters were turning and starting to chase us, I got the battle report of my unit of our first encounter. We lost thirty-five of our hunters and just one transporter. They managed to make a hole in our defense on the left side, which led to 100 ground troops' tragic death.

The other two units had approximately the same casualties as us, although slightly less as their formations were able to hold on all sides.

We kept pushing, and we made it through with no more casualties to show. Thankfully, the 180 degrees turn the enemy hunters had to make was enough for us to exit the firing range.

As the enemy commanders realized that they would miss us, they turned again and started flying to our cruisers.

-POV Chief General Rostov-

They made it. I sighed in relief.

"Chief Captain Chi, Chief Captain Landov, full retreat! Our plan was successful. Now we can only hope that Chief Commander Reymon and Chief Commander Bonanza will achieve their mission. Set course to the planet alpha zero in the Delta system. We have to repair damaged parts of our ships and resupply. All in all, it was a great success today, greatly done everyone!"

Planet Orio -

Orio's population saw hundreds of space ships descending into the planet's atmosphere as they flew in three groups.

POV Chief Commander Bonanza -

I felt relieved as we safely managed to land in the desert of Orio. In the next few days, we will build our base of operations. As we have hundreds of ships, we had to land on an open spot such as this desert. The camouflage we are giving up with erecting our base in such an open place was non-existent anyway, as you notice three battalions of enemy soldiers.

Simultaneously, in one of the Galactic Empire's cruisers, you could see General Randov from the Galactic Empire talking through holo communication to High Councilor Hildebrandt, an influential person regarding decisions concerning the ongoing war.

"General Randov, I am distraught and negatively surprised that a General whom I considered quite competent, like yourself, not to be able to complete such a seemingly simple mission successfully. I do not believe my judgment regarding your capability to be false, so how comes we are in this tragic situation?"

"High Councilor Hildebrandt, be at ease. Your decision to nominate was me was the right choice. Do not worry. I will make up for this disaster and clear it out before anything tragic can happen. The Galactic Federation could bring us into this unfavorable position because we have a traitor in our highest ranks on board. The Federation did get informed about the disease, which was kept secret under the highest security grade. Only someone from this operations upper echelon had access to such information. I made sure of that. It seems like traitors are way deeper into our ranks than we earlier imagined.

Since all their troops are on our planet now, without air support for some time, since the enemy cruisers retreated to repair the damage, we dealt them, even if only superficial, we have a short window where we can attack them from above. I already sent out all our air units. Since they are three full battalions, they will not be able to hide from us. While we are bombing and killing every last one of them, I already instigated a thoroughly and comprehensively search for the traitor in our ranks. I will find him and interrogate any useful information he may have for us. After that, I will let him experience what being a traitor to the Galactic Empire feels like. The Federation thinks this is a great fortune for them, but I will make them realize fast that going against me, General Randov, and the Galactic Empire is a deadly mistake!"

"I hope you do, or this will be your last mission as a General!"

High Councilor Hildebrandt bellowed in an angry voice.