Large fleets of Granian ships approached the Starship Citadels, a cluster of large island/planetary platforms hovering in space like islands on oceans. They were met by smaller fleets of different ships, ready to stop them. This was the first attack they had faced and it was also their first space battle involving their ships and enemy ships. With the Granians having a larger fleet and greater numbers, the altercation lasted only a matter of minutes. It was quite strange, given that most of the attacking ships were trading vessels mounted with unauthorized weapons, manned by incapable creatures who were as good as anxious, mentally unstable teenagers driving cars on a six-lane highway with unstable passengers honking repeatedly. "We’ve lost only five ships. The pilots aboard those ships survived, and thankfully, we managed to get them back, Lord Grim." After a lengthy analysis, the Granians who provided it were dismissed, leaving Lord Grim alone in the main control room with the pilots manning the Granian Mothership. "A sloppy and poorly executed attack," he muttered to himself, getting lost in his thoughts. He spent countless minutes staring into deep space while his fleets were only a few kilometers away from landing. "How could an enemy be so careless as to attack so many ships at once? And I don’t recall seeing any Ethisians among those attackers. What could all of this mean?" "Lost in thought, Lord Grim?" The Granian granted the title of Grand Master, and one of the higher-ups charged with leading alongside Grim on the front line, stood next to him. "Does that small encounter trouble you?" "Look me straight in the eye and tell me if any of that made sense," Grim grunted before walking away, leaving the Grand Master momentarily baffled. A few minutes later, the first contact on the first Granian Starship Citadel was made, allowing those onboard to begin making further preparations. The arriving guests expected to find their own kind awaiting them on the first Citadel, but instead, they were greeted by silence and smoke trails towering high into the air. "Those ships," Grand Master said, approaching Grim, who was on his knees, examining footprints. "Those shooting at us were raiders. Their numbers were smaller than ours but..." "Greater than those who were here." The dots began connecting one by one, but before Lord Grim could make the final observation, the scouting Granians, who had scouted the Citadels, returned with faces as pale as moon dust. Follow current novels on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝔫𝔢𝔱 They came running as fast as they could, eyes wide, and dots shaking about. "Lord Grim," they kneeled quickly before blurting out what they had seen, all speaking at once. "AMBUSH!! AMBUSH!! Ambush, Lord Grim. It was an ambush." "They were ambushed. No survivors. Blood everywhere." "They’ve been skinned and robbed. Everyone was targeted. The males, females, and children." "Everything they had established here on this Citadel was destroyed, pillaged. Nothing’s standing." "We found enemy survivors, but they’ve run into the wild craters. The beasts will get them before we do." "The same thing has happened on the other eight Citadels." Silently, Lord Grim waved his hand, signaling the release of the Blood Mutants. As that happened, Grim listened to each of the scouts and learned more about what had happened. According to them, this was a "raid" designed to destroy any previous developments made on the Citadels. This plan was orchestrated to slow down Granian advancement, buying the Ethisians time for whatever they were planning. It was brilliant, but the cost was high for both the Ethisians and Granians, more so for the latter. "It’s not only here," Grand Master reported, returning with news from the other Granian fleets that had just arrived on the other Citadels. "It was a decently coordinated attack, I’ll give them that. Because of this, we’ll have to spend more time rebuilding before moving forward. That means we’ll have to call for an abrupt halt with any future advancements and..." "Our colonies are close by," Grim muttered. "Order them to send over workers, miners, and mechanics. I want everything to be rebuilt as quickly as possible. No breaks shall be given until all the rebuilding has been completed on all Citadels." "And what about the Blood Mutants?" "Let them be split into groups of two and cover this Citadel and the one next to us. I believe it’ll take some time to do so. They are to hunt any survivors, and I expect there to be quite a lot since most of the raider ships are still lingering about. Let them wring out any information and do as they please with them." "Don’t you think it’ll be overstretching our numbers?" Grand Master wondered. Unlike Grim, he was more concerned about his own people and their welfare than the enemies and their advancements. To him, keeping their people alive was more important than killing the enemy at their expense. "Those laborers live to serve," Grim replied. "They have nothing else to do other than take orders. And as I said, get the workers, not our people. Our people will just lend them helping hands, nothing more, nothing less. Until they arrive, we should conduct proper burials for the dead...or maybe give them to the Blood Mutants. Either way works." The order was given to all eight surrounding Citadels concerning what was to be done about the bodies, lingering enemy ships, and pillaged property. Immediately, laborers from the Granian colonies were transported in large numbers and put to work for hours, ensuring that the once-damaged Citadel structures were restored to their former glory. In the meantime, the Blood Mutants were released, with Ace and Cherry remaining on the Citadel where Lord Grim was, while Jim and Anya were transported to the one next to them, the second of the eight Citdales their ships landed. With their orders given, the Blood Mutants advanced into the wilderness of the Citadels in search of any surviving raiders, and also granted the chance to kill any beasts that came their way. This allowed them to further polish their skills while finding their targets, hitting two birds with one stone.