First Solo Capture of a Level 9 Stronghold

That was the news — that Icarus had, completely out of nowhere, taken the Central Zone's only Level 9 stronghold.

Most players, hit with the announcement cold, could only gape in total incomprehension.

And at that same moment, Icarus himself—

While players everywhere were still staring at the random occupation message and short-circuiting, roughly a few hours earlier, deep inside the Grand Cross, the fight had been going hard and the tide had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finally begun to turn.

"Commander, all forces are ready."

"Good."

Seeing far more players pouring into the Grand Cross raid than I'd expected, I decided it was time to pivot to a new plan.

"Jessica, how does Daedalus's defense look?"

"According to the radar readouts, most of their defensive strength has already been burned through."

"Is that so."

"And the defensive installations on Daedalus and its escort outposts all look like they melted under the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Grand Cross Cannon."

And the plan was this:

"Perfect. Then the moment the Grand Cross collapses and the event chain ends, the entire army advances on Daedalus."

"Yes, sir."

While every player's eyes were locked on the Grand Cross, we would quietly snatch Daedalus — a Level 9 fortress whose defenses, outside of the main fortress guns, had been all but annihilated under the Grand Cross's main-battery thrashing.

Of course, for the moment the event was still forcing every stronghold's stance to Neutral, so even if we wanted to attack, we couldn't.

But that thought didn't last long.

—thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud

"Commander, you're going to break that button."

"But I can't keep pressing it by hand forever, can I?"

It was obvious the fortress would fall within a day at most. So I had a sewing machine hauled over and kept the hire-mercenary button clacking while I stacked up extra mercenary companies for the Daedalus invasion.

"Oh, finally!"

"It's over at last."

The second ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the long-awaited event end message dropped, I scraped together every mercenary company the sewing machine had hired and funneled them straight through the Tannhauser gate toward Daedalus to open the assault.

Naturally that included my main force — the Cerberus fleet — and every other direct-command squadron I had.

And, while I was at it, I casually…

"Princess Luca's fleet?"

"If Daedalus still had defenses left, maybe not — but with nothing remaining, she said she's more than happy to loan them out."

…even pulled in Princess Luca's hobby fleet.

I threw every scrap of force I could muster into an empty-nest raid on the Central Zone's only Level 9 stronghold: the Daedalus Research Fortress.

Of course Daedalus's command staff tried to resist the sudden ambush somehow, but—

—"Enemy residual defense fleet eliminated!"

—"We've held off Daedalus's remaining main combat fleet — all other units, assault the fortress itself!"

—"Waaaaaaaaah!"

—"Yeeeeeah!"

—"The AA grid got wrecked ages ago — charge! Charge!"

Daedalus had already been seared medium-well and then blackened by the Grand Cross; there was no stopping a mercenary tide that had been paid thirty million resources up front — twenty million of it in a lump sum — plus my own fleets.

And the fleets that had fought the Grand Cross were so chewed up from being used as player meat-shields that their attrition rates were beyond imagination.

—"Enemy dreadnought attempting to break the defensive line!"

"Tell Ouroboros to switch to concentrated mode and focus fire on the dreadnoughts only."

—"Yes, Commander!"

"Have Niranzara keep snagging any heavy battleship-class or larger capital ships trying to punch through the line."

—"Understood."

"Everyone else keeps feeding assault teams into Daedalus. We're committing every mercenary captain and superhuman as well."

"Yes, Commander."

"Ignis, Partia, and Smeragi — prioritize the enemy command staff."

—"Understood!"

—"Leave it to me, Savior."

—"I'll handle it right away-nya."

"Paschutra stays with Ouroboros. Dornea, drop the artillery duel and get down into Daedalus — link up with the interior assault teams and go wild."

—"Yeees♡"

—"Yes."

"Oxianor joins them. Grianar, focus on the fleet battle for now with Belial and Tiamat."

—"Understood, Commander Icarus."

—"Hmm, alright?"

I ran the superhumans by the book, and we hammered and hammered and hammered poor Daedalus into the ground. In the process the still-living fortress main guns vaporized a modest fifteen percent of the mercenary force — a minor oopsie — but anyone with eyes could see Daedalus had no hope left.

And so, while the players were still howling in triumph over the Grand Cross, we—

—quietly chewed through Daedalus and succeeded in expanding the territory of that damned "Icarus Republic."

Of course, during the prep phase for Icarus's little territorial expansion, it wasn't as if the other players hadn't noticed anything at all…