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Stars blinked peaceful and all seemed quiet from Nishant's point of view. Gazing out at them, he did not feel at ease though. Maybe it was the strange infection that had transformed his body that gave him the unwavering desire to destroy the Creepers. Staring out at the stars, he knew they were out there.

The fleets may have stalled them back in the system of that unstable star, but the Creepers have been regrouping and preparing for another large push. It was impossible to know how many there were, or what their strength was, but it was clear that the Creepers were mustering all their strength to finish the war in the next battle to come.

Nishant could see the stars that would have normally given him a mind of peace. They still did, but the void between the stars he could only think of that space being filled with the Creeper's horde. They were coming.

"But we are ready for them," muttered Nishant. He stood on Hyourasky Casa, and all around the destroyer was the majority of the surviving UDAS ships. Dozens of the ships were fresh from the factories that were in overhaul production the past few months.

They weren't alone either, with the rest of the Guardian armada with them. The Guardians had over a hundred new warships, but it came at a great cost as they salvaged their home base to make the ships.

The Stealth race had brought up their surviving armada, along with all the other races that had suffered even greater at the clutches of the Creeper infestation. The Stealths and some of the other races took some convincing but they all eventually agreed that they had to draw a line and hold back the Creeper's assault.

Nishant turned to look at the assembled armadas. The ships stretched for as far as he could see, that even the light from the ships' engines could not be seen. The fleets must have been covering nearly a light year. Behind the fleets were a hundred defensive platforms built by the combination of all the races. Those platforms were larger than most of the ships, and would be able to fire a plasma projectile that'll split and cause massive area of effect damage. The platforms were the artillery of the fleets while the ships were the infantry.

"Just one is missing," muttered Nishant as he gazed at the ships.

Drach'n Fury was missing. Yukiomaru Alexander had orders to cover the retreating ships a week ago, but after an unauthorized stop, the ship vanished without a single transmission being sent out.

"The rest of the Drach'n fleet is here," Nishant continued to mutter. "Where are you Infected Yukiomaru?" Nishant had no idea what the infected fox was thinking, or where he had gone. He could never trust a Creeper, and he tried to convince the others of that but now when they need Admiral Alexander most, he disappeared.

There was a flash of light in the distance that drew Nishant's attention. Out there in the distance were hundreds of mines, so there was supposed to be no contacts out there until the Creepers arrived. He could not see what ship it was that had just arrived but it was far too small to have been the flagship Drach'n Fury.

Nishant heard the elevator doors open to the observation deck and he turned back to see who it was that had come up to join him.

Walking toward him was a tall and familiar alien. Nishant recognized the alien, but seeing him armored and armed for battle caught the springhare by surprise.

Velsh'nark had armor plating over most of his body with his feathers protruding out of the gaps. Over his elongated head he wore a helmet that covered his eyes in a dark visor that made him look even more alien. It became obvious that the alien favored melee weapons as it looked like he had several different kind of blades attached to his armor, and that his claws were reinforced by his armor, capable of shredding through flesh easier than they already do. There was a ranged weapon attached to his back but that was the only ranged weapon that Nishant could see.

"If only we had more time, Nishant Gerbo the Mutated," Velsh'nark said in a heavy accent. The tall alien walked up to the springhare and gazed out the window. "One of our scouts has returned. I hope you're ready for battle."

"I am ready," admitted Nishant, and followed the alien's gaze out to where the small ship had appeared. "I have sacrificed much to prepare for this battle."

"As have we," Velsh'nark remarked. "It is all we can do for our failure to realize that the Creepers were never fighting us. They were only expanding, and we were still being defeated."

"The Creepers are a clever enemy," Nishant replied. "We are fortunate that we discovered what they're truly like before too many races had perished. We will stop them here, and we will push them back and burn their worlds."

Velsh'nark remained silent at that. The alien knew that Nishant had discovered key pieces to the origin of the Creepers, and what the wars fought against them before had turned out. If anyone knew what their chances would be against the Creepers, it'd be Nishant Gerbo the Mutated.

It was true that Nishant knew more about the Creepers than anyone else alive, but it was impossible for him to predict the outcome. He knew that he could not show any doubt though, for the sake of the morale of every soldier in the fleets. The Creepers were very different in the other war, depending on who or what they had infected. And they were overconfident in their domination of the entire galaxy. They were not prepared for when the biological weapons were made to burn them from that galaxy.

This time, the Creepers were most definitely prepared to fight a war against several races with less advanced technology. It would be a tough fight.

"Scouts reporting in," an accented voice came over the speakers that could have only belonged to a Guardian. Velsh'nark reacted to the voice by shuffling a bit. "Inbound Creeper wave in three minutes. All fleets, prepare for battle."

Right on queue, the ship's sirens went off and echoed throughout the observation deck.

"Report to battle stations," General Vale's voice echoed. The nervousness in his voice was hardly detectable, but it was obvious that everyone was nervous. "Be prepared to repel borders."

Nishant regulated his breath and remained calm as he waited. Outside, the ships started to straighten out their formation and within a minute, thousands of single fighter ships started to pour out of the ships.

On the nearby ships, Nishant could see shields charging up, weapon ports opening up and a few launching small defensive probes or mines.

The commanders in the fleet were still relaying orders as several ships continued to do different operations, all preparing for battle.

"Attention soldiers of the UDAS," Lead General Vale's voice said over the speakers. In the distance there was another flash of light. "The Creeper's main assault wave has arrived. They have ravaged our homes once, and we are here to put a stop to this alien infestation of our galaxy. With the support of alien races that we have known for less than a few years, we are standing together against this viscous enemy. We must hold the line until the end, for our loved ones at home and for the fate of every living creature in this galaxy."

A small explosion blossomed near where the light flashed moments before. Whatever scout had just returned was fleeing. What it was fleeing from, soon made itself apparent. Like in a dark murky pool, there were still tadpoles seen moving in the mud. The Creepers had arrived.

Nishant raised a paw, which brought up a hologram computer in front of him. He commanded it with a few gestures and zoomed in the view of the stars to see the enemy better. The first wave was heavy as ever, with tens of thousands of infestations emerging from the darkness. Among them were warships, the winged serpents, and even half a dozen Klienestov.

Among them flashed another light, but this one continued to grow in intensity until it consumed the Creepers. One of the mines were detonated, one of the STAR bombs that the Guardians have created. It pulled in all the nearby creepers and burned them, including several of the winged serpents.

In the distance there were more flashes, not nearly as intense due to the distance but more mines had been detonated across the span of the fleets of nearly half a lightyear.

The nearest mine that detonated had destroyed a good portion of the Creepers and when the artificial star self destructed it took out a good deal more including severely damaging a Klienestov. Behind them however, they were replaced with just as many Creepers with more Klienestov appearing from the darkness.

Mines continued to detonate in the distance across the span of the battlefield but the Creepers were limitless. The powerful bombs only served to slow them down.

Creepers were getting closer but every ship still resisted from opening fire. From behind the fleets, the platforms took started a volley of shots. The massive projectiles were as large as most of the ships, and rocketed by them at almost light speed.

The projectiles disappeared in the distance just before the Creeper wave moments before they split and created a cone area of effect damage against the front line. One Klienestov was caught in the area of effect and hit directly by several split projectiles. They impacted and tore the creature apart, shredding it to pieces and burning whatever remained of it. Everything nearby the projectiles was melted or bursts into flames just by the intensity of the heat. Anything that was hit directly was instantly disintegrated.

Another volley followed the first. The platforms were causing massive damage to the Creeper wave but thousands of infections survived and continued to charge leaving behind the majority of the wave. These whips were too small and too spread out to have the platforms waste ammunition by target them.

Hyourasky Casa rumbled slightly just before it fired its main cannon at the approaching Creepers. Nishant glanced toward the rest of the fleet to see that most capital ships were firing their long-range weapons. It was a deadly wall of cannon fire that streamed toward the infected ships, and the winged serpents that had made it past the mines and platform fire.

The combined tactics of the fleets decimated the first wave. Anything that made it through their defense, was targeted by missiles and destroyed. No single fighter had to even engage in combat yet. However, even though the first wave was destroyed, the Creeper numbers were endless. The platforms could not fire fast enough to keep them thin and nearly all the mines had detonated by now. The enemy would reach their line, it was only a matter of time and how many casualties the enemy was willing to risk.

Volley after volley was fired. The casualties the Creepers were taking was impossible to estimate, but several hundred had started to make it pass the capital ships' cannons. The single fighters rocketed forward and engaged the Creepers that were outside of the capital ships' firing solutions that were target infected capital ships or the winged serpents.

A Klienestov had made it pass the platforms but was quickly targeted by a dozen capital ships. It took a few hits before the Klienestov was killed, but it had already launched several of the tiny pods that carried infected aliens toward the ships.

The pods were destroyed, with only a few failing to get through the shields, but the Creepers were getting closer.

Targeting the pods, the nearby ships had neglected targeting one of the winged serpents. Although it was severely injured, it survived and made it to the singe fighters. It completely ignored them and headed straight for the closest ship. The serpent spit a acidic saliva at the ship that shattered the shields and the serpent rammed straight into, severely damaging the hull.

Across the line of the fleets, Nishant could see that it wasn't the only serpent to have made it through. The artillery fire was getting closer and closer while each ship desperately tried to keep their ship from being damaged.

A school of the winged serpents emerged from the intense barrage that landed in the never-ending Creeper waves and they headed straight for Hyourasky Casa. There were a dozen of them, all in a tight formation seeming to be protecting the ones in the middle. Several ships saw them coming, including the destroyer, and opened fire with cannons and missiles.

The outer serpents were hit, and they struggled to keep going but the constant barrage forced them back and they fell off from the group lifeless. The others however were protected and drawing closer quickly. They started to suffer damage as well but only a few more were killed. Nishant could see them through the windows as they made it pass the fire solution of the capital ships. A few single fighters tried to intercept but they did little damage to the creatures, and had to veer off.

Velsh'nark took a step back seeing the large Creeper heading straight for them, but Nishant stood his ground. It was massive, much larger than any form of the Creepers beside the Klienestovs. It spat venomous saliva at the ship, the shields taking the brunt of the attack but the shields failed and allowed passage for the Creeper.

Velsh'nark jumped back as the creature crashed through the observation deck. The alien's armor reacted by completely enclosing his body as the atmosphere was sucked out of the ship.

The creature however crushed Nishant, or that it was it appeared as at first. The creature's momentum suddenly stopped. The head of the creature split open and smoldered from the wound. The creature's reflexes had it reared back as Nishant stood underneath it until it crashed to the ground a few meters away. The atmosphere overtook the artificial gravity of the ship and started to pull the creature out from the hole it created.

Nishant did not seem to be affected by the thinning atmosphere. A blast shield fell over the wound in the ships hull after the obtruding Creeper was sucked back out, and prevented any more atmosphere from being lost. The blast shield also prevented Nishant from seeing the battle.

"The other crashed on the lower decks," Velsh'nark said through his fully enclosed armor. The alien would have been surprised seeing Nishant survive and kill the creature, but after all the time he's spent with the furred aliens, he knew to expected the unexpected. "We should go stop the infection before it spreads too far."

Nishant nodded to the armored alien and turned to leave the damaged observation deck. The window was shattered, the interior hull was dented and torn and there was bits of the Creeper alien smoldering on the ground still.

The ship now had a constant rumble to it as the battle outside raged. Going through the corridors, there were several soldiers guarding various parts of the ship while a few were escorting some damage control personnel that were heading to various parts of the ship.

Since Nishant and Velsh'nark did not know where the other Creeper breached the ship, they headed for the bridge of the vessel where the Lead General was.

On the bridge, were various officers controlling the ship and doing their best to defend it against the Creeper waves. The red fox was standing at the head of the bridge, overlooking several screens that overlooked the battle or the ships behind Hyourasky Casa. While there was a second commander on board to help command the vessel, the Lead General was also focusing on the rest of the UDAS fleets.

"Pilot Gerbo," Lead General Vale said noticing the tall alien and the mutated springhare enter the bridge. "There's one more of those serpents in the starboard hangar but our soldiers had killed it."

One screen of the battle grabbed Nishant's attention. A bright flash illuminated the silhouettes of what must have been a dozen Klienestov. Another STAR had detonated amongst a fresh school of the massive aliens, and killed a good half dozen of them but the fleet that had launched the attack against the school of them were out of formation and were struggling to repel the Creepers' advancements.

The red fox took notice of it too, and appeared to be grinding his teeth as he saw a couple ships fall to the Creepers. The rest were able to retreat to the cover fire of the fleets, but not without taking heavy damage.

"They have far more Klienestovs that what we would have guessed," the General said. "And we have heard no reports about a Perfected Infection yet."

"Where do you need me, General?" Nishant asked, interrupting the General's thoughts.

"Stay on the front line," answered the General. "You too, Velshnark. Hyourasky Casa will need to pull back and allow the other ships to exchange fire or we'll be depleted. Go to those ships and make sure that they do not get infected."

"Another wave of Klienstov reported across multiple fleets, General," one of the officer's interrupted. "Guardian fleets are moving to intercept."

"Looks like this battle is very far from being over," General Vale mentioned. "We'll hold this line to the end though."

Nishant saw the truth in that statement, this battle had only just begun. IN the view screens, he could see more Klienestov replaces the ones that were just killed by the daring ships that sacrificed two of their to kill a school of them. More STARs were detonated among the Creeper waves. The remains of an infinite number of Creepers now littered the battleground.

"Where is Yukiomaru Alexander?" Nishant wondered. He turned from the view screens and headed down toward the hangar. He'd protect every ship he would land on from being infected but he could not cover everything ship in the armadas.

He had no idea how the battle would turn out. It'd mean either victory, or his death.