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Over the next eight hours, Harlow's scouts popped in and out of the system at random points, ensuring nobody got any rest. When the attack finally came, it wasn't like the first time.

A concentrated barrage of projectiles came for the orbital assets including the station and the refueling depot.

Thanks to all the system surveillance they had, Alexander had time to implement his static field array across both stations and the facility.

The incoming ordnance destroyed a few of the satellites, reducing the future effectiveness of the fields over the stations, but they did their job, slowing down the incoming rounds considerably. It wasn't enough to prevent all the damage, however.

The refueling depot took the most damage as it was essentially immobile and the attack had come from directly above the planet. Even slowed down, the railgun rounds were still faster than a bullet and the refueling station wasn't armored.

Moving the station that was under construction had kept it mostly safe from the incoming fire, but a few new holes still appeared in the large structural supports.

Alexander's printers escaped the attack mostly undamaged thanks to their slim profiles and ability to move on their own.

The biggest loss suffered during the ten-minute-long attack was the bots. Over fifty of them suffered catastrophic damage and either blew apart as they were struck by railgun darts or were sent tumbling toward the planet below from glancing blows.

Normally the robots would have been hard targets to hit with how small they were, but with them clustered around the space station to continue their work, they had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time during the attack.

The loss of material and the cleanup that would have to be done afterward were annoying, but the overall attack hadn't done much damage.

Harlow must have felt the same because his scouts retreated after the failed attack and his fleet showed up shortly after that.

Keeping out of sight and using his scouts was a pretty good tactic in most cases. That didn't work here because Eden's End Traffic Control could calculate jump trajectories thanks to the many sensors they had in the system as well as the substantial processing power of the supercomputers.

Lucas fed that information directly to the fleets and they repositioned before the pirates arrived. When Harlow popped out above the planet at a slight angle, instead of finding a clear target in the form of the refueling depot, he found two fleets already opening fire.

That didn't stop Harlow from launching three of his plasma missiles at the station before turning to jump again.

During that brief exchange, ground control managed to target one of Harlow's cruisers with half of the orbital lasers.

The targeting program wasn't perfect, but it concentrated enough of the energy from the weapons to melt off the front quarter of the ship.

Its warp field failed catastrophically as it tried to jump, and a sparkling field of debris was now scattered across a full light second of space above the planet.

Attempts to stop all three plasma missiles from reaching their intended target failed. One lasted long enough to activate.

Alexander could only sit and watch as the roiling ball of energy punched straight through the static field array and the refueling station before it boiled away completely in the thin atmosphere of the planet below.

The plasma from the passing projectile ignited the stored fuel aboard the unfortunate station. It wasn't quite enough to turn the entire structure into a miniature sun, but plasma trails burst out either side of the station where the ball of plasma had passed through, further damaging the structure.

The added force destabilized the small station and sent it spinning toward the planet.

Alexander regretted the loss of the first orbital asset he had ever built but the trade had been worth it. He could rebuild the refueling depot in a few weeks with his current production capacity, but Harlow could not replace a cruiser as easily.

That wasn't Harlow's only loss during that short exchange either.

***

Katalynn sat aboard Valkyrie, waiting for Harlow's eventual arrival. Kane's sensor network allowed them to estimate where Harlow would come in and it had been quite accurate.

She made a mental note to speak with him about deploying similar networks across Asgardian space as she ordered her fleet to attack.

Harlow had been caught flat-footed once again and Kane's defenses took out one of his cruisers. That would be a significant blow to the megalomanic.

The Valkyrie targeted a destroyer as it was the first icon that appeared on this wonderful tac-display.

It was weird not feeling the ship shake as its weapons fired, but the results of the new lasers spoke for themselves.

Harlow's destroyer held up under the powerful laser's fire for less than a second before the destructive beams cut through its armor. One of the weapons must have breached their missile storage area as the ship exploded violently from the inside out.

Another of Harlow's frigates and destroyers went down in the short exchange as Captain Krieger targeted a separate ship with his lasers and one of Kane's laser-equipped frigates took down the other ship.

Unfortunately, Harlow jumped his fleet before the projectiles arrived. Point defense tried its best to eliminate the plasma missiles, but they were designed to defend the ship they were mounted to, not something a quarter of a light second away.

Despite that deficiency, the PDLs managed to destroy two of the incoming weapons.

"This is why I told Jarl Kane that he needed to distribute his refueling assets," Haldric stated as they watched the station break apart as it descended into the northern pole of the planet.

"The loss is annoying but not insurmountable as long as Harlow doesn't drag this fight out," Katalynn replied to her Sub-Commander.

She knew Kane had taken Haldric's words to heart, sort of. The mercenary's assault ship was acting as a mobile refueling depot and had escaped the surprise attack without any damage thanks to the early warning.

They could not expect Harlow to jump in so close to the planet again, not after experiencing the combined firepower of the orbital lasers. He would adjust his tactics and try something different for the next attack.

They didn't have long to wait. An hour later alerts began appearing on the tactical display as Harlow's fleet jumped in at multiple different locations, both above and below the system.

It came as a surprise because the man had not deployed any scouts this time.

Volleys of projectiles were fired toward the planetary defenses as well as the fleets and any other ship in the system this time.

They did this before quickly jumping out again, too fast for the defenders to react. The fleets managed to get clear of the incoming fire, but the defenses and mercenary ship weren't quite as lucky.

Small pinpricks of light began to bloom in the darkness as Kane's defensive assets began to die one by one.

The Talon didn't run for cover. Part of its job was to shield the remaining civilian ships that were in orbit. Katalynn gave the captain of the vessel some grudging respect as they turned to face the incoming barrage, blocking the ordnance from hitting the more vulnerable ships hiding beneath it. Read latest chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

The large mercenary ship seemed to weather the storm, but Katalynn could see atmosphere venting from the colossal vessel thanks to the upgraded sensors Kane had installed aboard her ship.

Katalynn silently wished them luck before turning her focus back on the overall battlefield.

Once the attack was complete, Kane's defensive array was down nearly twenty percent.

After looking at how many projectiles Harlow's people had fired, she could only think of one possibility. "Harlow must have a support fleet nearby, it's the only possible explanation for him expending ammo this recklessly. Get the main commanders on the line and let's see if we can figure out how to deal with that so we can limit his options."

They had a bit of time while Harlow licked his wounds and the other damaged ships made repairs.

"Fleet commanders are on the line," Haldric stated a moment later.

She hadn't connected via video because she didn't want the distraction so it was audio only.

"Harlow has a resupply fleet nearby. We need options to deal with it. What about your prototype ships, Jarl Kane?" she asked.

"They could work," Kane stated. "I assume the supply ships aren't going to have the same defenses as warships, so the gunships should be far more effective against them than throwing them into Harlow's fleet."

"It's better than no possibility," Katalynn responded. "What's your plan?"

She glanced over at Vyrik, her tactician. The man nodded back at her, seeming to agree with Kane's logic. They had discussed the ships after Kane told her about them, but her tactician agreed that they wouldn't be very effective in a straight-up fight. With Harlow not engaging them in extended battle, they were impossible to deploy. Having them search for and cripple Harlow's ability to resupply would be the best use for them.

"We're going to need Harlow to commit again or send in his scouts so we can get a vector of where he might be. Sending them out to scout around the entire system would take far too long," Kane replied.

Katalynn had to agree. Searching that volume of space would be practically impossible. "Very well. Alert the crews of those ships to be ready, we will try to draw Harlow into a prolonged engagement so he is forced to resupply."

***

Harlow stared with cold uncaring eyes at the dead man at his feet. The man's suggestion had cost him a cruiser, two destroyers, and a frigate. And all he had gotten in return was a refueling depot and some orbital defenses.

"Toss him out an airlock and give me a damn rag to wipe this blood off my blade!" he roared in annoyance.

Four men hurried over and dragged the man away while one of his attendants rushed to offer him a rag.

Harlow glared at the man. "I'm the fucking Emperor, not a fucking maid!" He shoved the blade toward the man, earning a squawk of surprise as the attendant barely avoided getting run through himself.

"Apologies, your Eminence," the man blathered as he quickly wiped the blood from the weapon.

As soon as the blade was spotless, Harlow pulled it back and slid it into the jeweled sheath at his side.

A sword was a ridiculous weapon to use in space, but Harlow liked the look it presented while wearing it. And it did make a convenient tool to deal with fools.

"How is the resupply going?" he demanded of his second in command. The longer this battle lasted and he was denied his prize, the more his mind seemed to buzz in agitation. It was making him more irate and short-tempered than usual.

"All the ships should be rearmed within another half an hour, your Eminence," the man bowed slightly.

Harlow narrowed his eyes fractionally at the man. Had the man paused momentarily before adding the honorific after addressing him? He would be keeping a close eye on his second. If the man thought he had a chance to take Harlow's place, he was dead wrong.

"Tell them to hurry it up. We are going to pull that same tactic again. Only this time Harlow's Might will be targeting that big bastard of a ship hiding in orbit."