Chapter 174: There Was No Strike Force

Chapter 174: There Was No Strike Force

The orbital battle ended without ceremony. By the time Noah returned his attention fully to the observation feed, only scattered Vraxith organisms remained among the wreckage, and small groups of Imperial fighters were already eliminating them before they could flee farther from Khelron.

The surviving Vraxith no longer moved as a coordinated force. Some drifted away from destroyed carriers, while others attempted to hide among the debris until robed soldiers found them and finished the remaining resistance.

Noah did not spend long watching the final kills. The outcome in orbit had already been decided, and the more interesting development began when Major Cassian Rourke stopped sending soldiers toward new targets.

Portals started appearing near the scattered martial detachments instead.

The first group entered one without hesitation. Two soldiers carried an injured companion between them, while another dragged a severed section of Vraxith armor through the opening before it closed.

A second portal appeared farther away and collected another group. The pattern repeated across the battlefield until the number of human figures outside Khelron began falling rapidly.

Halden stood beside Noah and watched the same feed.

"They’re withdrawing."

"They’ve finished what they came here to do," Noah said. "There’s no reason to leave fighters outside if the orbital threat has already been destroyed."

An observation officer suddenly increased the magnification on one of the portals. The opening had remained stable long enough for the instruments to capture part of what lay beyond it.

"There’s terrain on the other side."

Noah stepped closer.

The portal did not lead into an airship.

A broad paved field stretched beyond the opening under a clear sky. Buildings stood around its edges, and groups of soldiers waited near what appeared to be prepared military receiving areas.

Another portal opened from a different part of the orbital battlefield. It showed the same location from another angle.

Halden looked toward Noah. "That’s a planet."

"Yes."

The last group of robed fighters stepped through.

Noah continued watching the receiving area after they disappeared. Soldiers on the other side immediately moved away from the portal as though their return had been expected long before the opening appeared.

There was no confusion or crowding.

Rourke had apparently done this many times before.

The smaller portals closed one after another.

Then a much larger distortion formed beside the remaining airships.

The opening expanded far beyond the size of the portals used by the soldiers. Noah watched its edges continue widening until even one of the heavy Imperial vessels could pass through without coming close to touching the boundary.

The view on the other side revealed far more of the world.

A massive military field stretched away from the portal.

Long structures that resembled hangars stood beside fortified towers. Roads connected the receiving area to distant installations, while mountains rose behind the military complex.

One of the damaged airships changed course.

It headed directly toward the opening.

Halden frowned. "He’s sending the ships in too."

The vessel passed through the portal and entered the world beyond.

Ground personnel immediately surrounded it once it cleared the opening.

A second damaged airship followed.

Then another.

The receiving area had clearly been built to accommodate vessels of that size.

Noah watched each ship disappear.

His own portal connecting Khelron and Eldrath remained open only because he continuously sustained it. Rourke was holding a gateway large enough to move entire warships while standing outside Khelron’s atmosphere.

The difference required no explanation.

Another airship entered the portal.

Halden finally turned toward the communications station.

"Did the Major tell anyone he was leaving immediately?"

"No."

"Then ask him what he plans to do next."

Noah opened the channel.

"Major Rourke, Khelron command."

Rourke answered several seconds later.

"I’m receiving you."

"Your vessels are entering the portal. Are you withdrawing your strike force from Khelron?"

There was a short silence.

When Rourke answered, the confusion in his voice sounded genuine.

"My strike force?"

Noah glanced toward Halden.

"The airships and martial troops you deployed against the Vraxith."

Rourke paused again.

"There’s been a misunderstanding. The Third Expeditionary Strike Group isn’t at Khelron."

The officers nearest the communications station stopped what they were doing.

Noah watched another vessel move toward the portal.

"You identified yourself as the commander of the Third Expeditionary Strike Group."

"I am its commander."

"Then where is the group?"

"That is what I need to determine."

Noah remained silent for a moment.

Halden stepped closer.

"If these ships are not your Imperial strike group, whose ships are they?"

"Mine."

Halden frowned.

Rourke clarified before he could ask again.

"They belong to my planetary forces."

Noah looked toward the enormous portal.

One of the heavy warships was halfway through it.

The vessel disappeared into a world that belonged to the Major.

"The martial soldiers came from your planet as well?" Noah asked.

"Yes."

"And every airship we saw?"

"Yes."

Halden stared at the speaker.

"You deployed your own planetary military against the Vraxith fleet?"

"I was the only Imperial officer from my formation present in the region. My planetary forces were immediately available, so I used them."

Rourke spoke as though there were nothing unusual about the decision.

Noah looked through the portal again.

The field on the other side had already received several damaged ships. Repair crews were moving toward them while fresh personnel directed traffic away from the portal entrance.

Everything Noah had watched in the previous battle had come from one planet.

The martial fighters.

The airships.

The crews.

The logistics supporting them.

None of it had been Rourke’s assigned Imperial task force.

Halden folded his arms.

"Major, how did you arrive here without the force you were supposed to be commanding?"

Rourke answered without hesitation.

"I was separated from the convoy during transit."

Noah looked toward Halden.

The governor raised an eyebrow.

"You were leading that convoy?"

"I was leading my task force within it. The convoy contained multiple formations."

"What caused the separation?" Noah asked.

"The transit route destabilized while we were moving through it. My position was displaced before the rest of the task force completed the passage."

"Where did they emerge?"

"I haven’t located them yet."

Halden glanced toward the orbital display.

"You were searching for your task force when you found Khelron?"

"Yes."

"And you stopped here instead."

"I detected a Vraxith invasion fleet attacking an Imperial-aligned world. Leaving Khelron to search for my convoy would have allowed the Vraxith to finish the invasion before I returned."

The answer was practical.

Rourke did not speak as though he had performed something extraordinary.

Another heavy airship disappeared through the portal.

Only a few vessels remained outside.

Noah looked at the receiving world beyond the opening and tried to understand what he was seeing with the new information.

He had assumed those ships represented a specialized Imperial military formation.

They did not.

They represented the military strength Rourke personally carried through his connection to his own planet.

Halden apparently reached the same conclusion.

"How much of your planetary military did you deploy?"

"Only the formations that could mobilize immediately."

Halden glanced at Noah.

Neither asked the next obvious question.

If those forces represented only what Rourke could mobilize quickly, then the rest of his planetary military remained unseen.

Noah kept his attention on the last vessels instead.

The damaged escorts entered first.

The remaining heavy ships followed.

Finally, only the central command airship remained outside Khelron.

Several smaller portals appeared around it.

Personnel stationed outside the vessel returned through them in groups while equipment and wounded soldiers followed.

The command airship then aligned with the enormous gateway.

Noah watched the vessel begin moving forward.

Its bow entered Rourke’s world.

The rest followed gradually until the entire ship disappeared beyond the portal.

The opening remained stable for several seconds after the vessel cleared it.

Then it began shrinking.

The military field narrowed from view.

The fortified towers disappeared.

The mountains vanished last.

A few seconds later, the portal closed completely.

The orbital display now showed only wreckage and one human figure.

Major Cassian Rourke remained floating outside Khelron.

Halden stared at the feed.

"He sent every ship back."

Noah nodded.

Rourke had dismantled the entire temporary deployment as quickly as he had created it.

Noah reopened the channel.

"Major, all of your vessels have returned to your planet. How are you planning to rejoin the convoy?"

"I need to trace their transit route first."

"Khelron can provide transportation if you need to reach an Imperial station."

"That would slow me down. Once I identify the direction they traveled, I can move without a ship."

Halden leaned toward the transmitter.

"You can leave this region directly?"

"Yes."

Rourke gave no further explanation.

Noah looked toward the observation officers.

"Keep the image centered on him."

The feed enlarged.

Rourke remained motionless among the debris.

No airship returned.

No portal opened nearby.

For several moments, there was no visible change.

Then the space surrounding him began to distort.

The effect did not resemble the gateways he had used earlier.

There was no circular boundary.

There was no visible destination on the other side.

Halden watched the distortion intensify.

"That isn’t the same kind of portal."

"No. Record whatever the instruments can detect."

The orbital officers began collecting readings while Rourke remained at the center of the distortion.

The Major contacted Khelron one final time.

"Khelron command."

Halden answered.

"We’re receiving you."

"The orbital threat has been removed. The Vraxith remaining on the surface no longer have fleet support."

Noah responded.

"Our forces are already clearing the surviving concentrations."

"Then finish the defense before your mission window closes. The invasion has already caused enough damage without giving the remaining Vraxith more time to entrench themselves."

"We’ll clear them."

"I also need you to record that I diverted to Khelron after detecting the invasion. Imperial command may ask why my transit trail ends in this region."

Halden looked toward Noah before answering.

"I’ll include the reason in the planetary report. I’ll also note that you intervened after being separated from your convoy."

"That will prevent unnecessary questions later."

The distortion around Rourke grew stronger.

Noah watched the Major’s outline blur across the feed.

"Major."

Rourke remained on the channel.

"What is it?"

Noah looked at the empty space where the Imperial fleet had been only minutes earlier.

"Your planetary forces changed the outcome of this battle. Eldrath would not have been able to stop that fleet in orbit."

Rourke answered without hesitation.

"Then build Eldrath until it can."

Noah held his gaze on the orbital feed.

"That is exactly what I intend to do."

The channel closed.

Rourke’s figure distorted again.

A moment later, he vanished.

There was no airship accelerating away from Khelron and no gateway remaining behind him. The observation officers searched the surrounding region and found nothing except Vraxith wreckage drifting through space.

Noah continued looking at the empty coordinates.

Rourke had arrived alone after becoming separated from an Imperial convoy. He had opened his planet, deployed warships and martial soldiers into open space, returned all of them home after the battle, and then departed without needing a vessel to carry him.

Everything Noah had mistaken for an Imperial strike group had belonged to one planetary lord.

The realization stayed with him as the orbital display returned to its normal scale. A single Major had brought an entire military civilization into Khelron’s war and taken it away again as easily as Noah moved one expedition through his own portal.